Transformers: Final Strife
by midle1998
Summary: Transformers AU. Stellar cycles of countless wars have caused Cybertron to break away at it's very seams and its inhabitants are on the verge of eradication. The Allspark, the only object capable of creating a new Cyberton, has been plunged into deep space to keep it out of the Decepticon's reach. Only a small group of Cybertron's survivors stand between them and galactic conquest.
1. Chapter 1: Trailing After Something Lost

Chapter One: Trailing After Something Lost

—

A low growl slipped from the femme's dermas as she shifted, her strange green optic keeping watch on the surrounding deep space. Perhaps soaring through this deep space to follow the Allspark wouldn't have been the best idea. Especially with the Decepticons following, after her last encounter, she didn't want to get near them. They had ruptured the plating and some energon lines on her abdomen, and it wasn't the most pleasant to get repaired by the grump of a medic. She crossed her arms, her sensitive audio receptors keeping a lookout for any strange transmissions.

Many a mech are stationed in this rocking pod of theirs. The all sit in silence, nervous actually as they are still recovering from their day. Their last day on their planet, Cybertron. Piloting is the mech that led them aboard this pod. The one chasing the light before them. Brighter than any star they've seen in the sky. Bright enough for them to follow, at the very least. Behind them, no too far behind them, is the enemy of their world, the Decepticons. In their giant airship, they begin to open fire on their small pod. For the most part, they aren't able to hit from their distance, but it won't take long given the chance.

The femme glanced around the mechs in the pod, dimming her optics a bit while she boosted her audio receptive system. The silence was nerve wracking, uncrossing her arms and sitting up with her servos on her knees. She couldn't handle the silence before a gruff grunt caught her attention.

"Easy, Shadowblitz. You still took a toll." Ratchet's voice broke the silence, making the femme roll her optic.

"I'm fine, Ratchet. Only a broken cable or two." The femme grunted, glancing around at the other mechs. A young mech was staring towards the pilot before looking away, noticing the femme was looking at him easily.

The mech piloting was transfixed on this light. He couldn't lose it. Not with it being the only ray of hope left for them and Cybertron. And he sure wasn't going to let it out of his sight, let alone those warmongers get a hold of it. A star map shows up on the shield and showed them all the direction the Allspark was heading. _"A system with...One star? How peculiar...?"_ The piloting mech thought to himself.

The femme looked away towards the piloting mech, shuddering softly before she got up to look at the star map. "They're not going to let up on fire, we need to do something to make sure we don't get hit in the firing range." She spoke aloud, hopefully to catch his attention. Her helm turned to look towards Ratchet, before she returned to where she was sitting. A soft wince came from her as she held her left arm, several cables broke off in their running.

"The pod itself is devoid of any weaponry. This is strictly for transportation. Our only chance is to keep the course and hope they don't hit." The piloting mech spoke.

"But that won't do us any good. And what's worse, is that we'll still be leading the Decepticons to the Allspark! We need to formulate some sort of offensive to throw the Decepticons off of us." interjected another mech. The tallest mech on the ship, as a matter of fact.

"None of us are equipped to fight in deep space like that. And our offensive would be weak against their mass offensive anyway. The only other option is that we try to shake them, but that would risk us losing sight of the Allspark, and giving the Decepticons the lead. They're not trying to destroy us. They're trying to move us out the way." The pilot mech responded.

"And destroy us in the process." The femme grunted as she let go of the broken cabling, it sparking slightly against the metal in her arm. "If they destroy us, who's to say they won't try to rule the entire galaxy?" She added on, her facemask unclamping and showing her deeply scars faceplates.

The medic on board gave the femme a dark glare before glancing towards the piloting mech and tallest mech.

"Not with their current numbers. Barely enough to conquer a single planet within a day. They need the Allspark to replicate more of themselves in order to succeed in that endeavor." The piloting mech clarified and just as soon as he did, the pod shook considerably hard. The map disappeared and red began to flash. The screen now read _"Warning: Exterior Weakening."_ The pilot mech grumbled to himself.

"I could try to lead them off our tail. I'm an aerocraft, so it might be a bit easier for me to at least keep their eyes off us." The tall mech suggested, taking a few steps towards the pilot mech.

"But you'll freeze in a matter of minutes!" The pilotmech exclaimed.

"Whichever or doesn't matter! We can't just die here in the vacuum of space! At Least not all of us! Someone has to face the Decepticons once the Allspark reaches its destination!" The tallest mech argued.

A soft grunt came from the femme, "Stop bickering like sparklings, and just go. We need to follow the Allspark, so if you two continue arguing, I'll go instead." Her singular optic narrowed as she glanced towards the two larger mechs and she stood, crossing her arms.

A bit of a cough came from the medic on board, shaking his head a bit. He agreed with neither idea, honestly.

"I'll be waiting near the exit. Open up when I'm ready. I'll try to make it back while I can." The tall mech said to the pilot mech as he made his way to the pod exit. The pilot mech didn't respond. He stopped next to the femme and looked to her. "Do you still plan on coming with?" He asked.

"May as well." The thin femme followed after the tall mech, uncrossing her arms. "Two is better than one after all." She smirked a bit before her mask clamped down once more, glancing back at the other mechs onboard the pod. Hell, if she didn't make it back, it'd be worth it.

"We're ready!" said the tall mech.

"Everyone, hang on to something!" yelled the pilot mech as he pulled the lever, opening the pod exit out to space. The door lowered and everyone could feel themselves being pulled. One mech, who appeared to be unconscious, was slowly slipping towards the exit.

The medic quickly grabbed onto the mech he noticed was slipping towards the exit, grunting as he held onto where he sat. The femme slipped out and vanished, due to her dark-paint. She transformed and shot off, hopefully to catch the attention of the warship. It was freezing, but she continued until she caught the attention of the Decepticons.

The tall mech was pulled into the vastness of space. He also transformed and followed behind the femme towards the Decepticon battleship.

—-

A loud snarl came from the second in command of the battleship, ruby optics narrowing in frustration as he watched the screen in front of him. The medic to his right turned and went to look at another screen.

"The first one is built like a military fighter. Take them down or bring them in?" He mused to their leader, the deep-red colored mech glancing at the larger mech. His assistant was off keeping track of medical supplies.

The silent mech continued to type on the keypad, his visor glimmering faintly as he glanced back towards his leader as well.

A large mech sat on a violet, chromatic throne. His legs spread out and his digits interlocked. He breathed slowly as he saw the screen that showed the aerocrafts leaving the pod. "If neither of the two have what I want, then turn them into space crap. Their feeble attempts to avert our optics will fail them horrendously!" The large mech declared with menacing authority.

"They could possibly know the location where it will end up, my liege. Only suggestion I have is to bring them in to find out." The medic shrugged his shoulders as he returned to his place beside the second in command.

The silver and red mech narrowed his optics, "The medic may have good reasoning, my lord. If we bring one of them and find out, we can navigate past the wretched Autobots." He grunted, looking towards the large mech on his throne.

"I don't see the need when the pod clearly follows the Allspark. I've already waited whole stellar cycles as it is for this moment."The large mech got up from his throne. "And these two seek to avert our attention from the pod." The mech made his way to the deck. "You see that twinkling light?" The large mech pointed to a small glimmering light that appeared to be several short ways from the pod's reach. "There it is. The lifesource of our very planet and the key to its prosperity. From here it's so far… Yet, this is the closest I've ever gotten to it. I will not be stalled again...These old Cybertronians will not answer to us even if we gave them to Knock-Out to tear them apart. Methodically. We'd surely waste our time."

Though the silver mech wanted to argue, he kept his dermas shut and nodded to his leader. "Of course, my liege." The silent mech nodded as he continued his oath of silence, typing away information until a pesky little femme briefly appeared in one of the camera feeds. He shifted on his pedes before continuing with his work.

The large mech turned away from the screen "Soundwave!" He called.

The silent mech stopped his work and turned to the larger mech, a small question mark appearing on his visor. Easily, he was here to keep track to make sure everything ran properly.

"There are two aerocrafts approaching us. In case, they have any ideas. Specifically hindering our travel, then dispose of them both." the large mech ordered. "You'll be stationed close to the main spacial boosters of the Nemesis. If they come anywhere near there, you know what to do."

The silent mech nodded before he turned and left the bridge, going to do as he was ordered. Simple and easy, dispose of the aerocraft Autobots.

The silver mech timidly stepped aside from the silent mech, casting a brief glance over his shoulder plate before looking back at the large mech.

The large mech looked back to the screen and crossed his arms, "Soon, life itself will be in my claws..."

—-

The two aerocrafts were slowly approaching the Nemesis. "That's odd. They stopped firing at us for some reason. What do you think they're planning?"

"Perhaps they're focusing on following the pod. Either that or their leader decided to come out here and face us himself." The femme grunted a bit as they neared the Nemesis. She shifted a bit, watching the ship for movement.

"Hmmmm...I have an idea. Maybe instead of just flying all over them, we could try taking out their main boosters. To slow them down as the pod tries to gain more distance from the battleship." The tall mech suggested.

"That sounds good." The femme shifted around, "Though. Someone has to be arming the blasters to make sure no one gets near those boosters." The femme reminded him as she changed course.

"Then it might be best that one of us trying going after the boosters then?" The tall mech asked.

"I'll keep whoever is manning the blaster occupied. You're the bigger out of the two of us, work on those boosters." The femme smirked before she quickly changed course and travelled towards one of the blasters.

The tall mech realigned himself and boosted himself towards the boosters of the Nemesis ."I need to make quick work of those boosters before my systems begin freezing...I hope I have enough firepower to take a few of them out." —-

The pilot mech looked at a small box, showing the two aerocrafts going out of view as they got closer to the Nemesis. He looked away from the screen and focused on the Allspark.

—-

The lithe female quickly caught the optic of the mech manning the blasters. Immediately, he began firing, not noticing the other mech towards the boosters. "I have to keep his attention long enough, my audio system is already beginning to glitch." The femme thought to herself, quickly dodging another laser blast easily.

The tall mech almost made it to the main boosters. "Almost , this should be good firing distance." The tall mech began to open fire at the boosters as he continued to get closer to them.

A loud growl erupted from the femme as one of her wings were blasted through, making flight virtually impossible. She was hardly able to dodge another before she quickly contacted the tall mech. "I'm down, missed a shot and got my wing blasted through, you have another fifty kliks until the blaster mech notices you. Make it count, fraggit."

"If you're injured, then it's best for you to try and make it back to the pod before you freeze up. I'm attacking the Main boosters now." It didn't take long for him to finish, one of the boosters beginning to stutter, "It's work in progress."

"Doubt I'll be able to make it back, flight is virtually impossible. If I freeze up, so be it, I'm just injured one way or another." She growled before slowly began her way back to the pod, shuddering. "If you get back to the pod before me, then go. Give the boys one hell of a growl from me."

—

The silent mech finally took notice of the aerocraft near the boosters. No matter about the other, he shifted around and began firing at the other.

The tall mech felt himself getting belted by the rapid fire from the silent mech. He could feel some of his systems beginning to falter, "GAAAH! Damn! I'm being ambushed!" The tall mech sped up and continued to fire at the boosters, all the while making an attempt to make a complete circle around the battleship and speed back to the pod before his systems could give out.

"Get out of there! Scrap, go damn it before you go offline!" The femme hissed through their commlink, shifting her course and going to deal with the boosters as well. May as well do something useful before she went offline. "You're more needed for protection than I am, get out of there!"

The silent mech shifted his blasters to aim at both of them, his claws clicking across the letters. His visor flickered briefly as he continued, tilting his helm as he noticed the femme going back the other way.

The tall mech managed to make the circle, the boosters suffering mild damage and the Nemesis had significantly slowed down. "Ok! I think that oughta do it! I'm making my way back to the pod!" The tall mech confirmed as he made a mad rush to the pod.

The silent mech narrowed his optics when the other went out of sight, the femme looping around. "See you on the other side." The femme cut off their communication as she struggled to make her way back to the pod. The silent mech reaimed the blasters and continued fire at the slower femme.

"What? What happened?!" The tall mech didn't get a response. "Fraggit!" He could see see the femme in front of him being bombarded by the silent mech, "Not today..." The tall mech picked up speed and fired at the silent mech. Several of his shots managed to damage it's wings.

The silent mech recoiled quickly, falling back with the damage to his wings. He rolled back and shot back towards the Nemesis, the lithe purple mech easily vanishing out sight. The femme was a bit shocked, thinking the tall mech was ahead of her already. Though, the blast to her wing was clearly evident and to some other places of her as well.

The tall mech didn't stop. He turned at an angle and his wing snagged hers. This caused him to pull her towards the distancing pod by the wing.

The femme grunted when her wing was snagged, following behind the tall mech. Hopefully they would make it to the pod easily, no need for fighting other bots.

As they near the pod, they could see a giant, white stone. "Is that where the Allspark is heading?" The tall mech asked.

"I'm not sure. Guess we have to wait and see." The femme was unsure totally, staring at the giant stone. Hopefully not, it surely wouldn't be enough for a planet.

They two aerocrafts were just a couple of clicks away from the pod. The pod door opened for their arrival. "Just...A little...Further..!" The tall mech put every ounce of energy in getting into the pod as they almost near the the surface of the giant, white stone. Suddenly a stray laser hit the pod's side, staggering it and allowing the two aerocrafts to enter the pod.

—-

"Good shot, Starscream." The large mech congratulated the silver mech for his decent aim.

The silver mech perked up and nodded, "Thank you, my liege." The silent mech drifted back into the bridge, flicking off bits of smoldering metal off of his armor.

—

The femme grunted as the two of them entered the pod, quickly transforming and holding her servo up to her wound. It was a clean hole through and through, which made her grumble. Hopefully this would be enough to distract the Nemesis.

The glimmering light flew through the near surface of the giant, white stone, while the pod struggled from getting too close from the surface. The red lights continued to blare and the pilot mech tried to get whatever smidge of stability that he could get to keep from crashing. "I… Won't… Lose… It!" The glimmering light cleared the great, white stone and soon so did the pod. The same can't be said for the Nemesis, which crash landed on the surface of the stone, no doubt unable to clear it due to its boosters malfunctioning. "We did it.." spoke the tall mech breathlessly.

The femme chuckled breathlessly, "You did it, I just kept someone sidetracked..." She grunted before her facemask split again. She shifted and stood up, using the wall to get up slowly. This wound was hurting, and several systems were trying to reboot in the process.

"Don't sell yourself short." The tall mech chuckled but is snapped out of it by the dire situation. The glimmering light is heading straight for a planet. A green and blue planet with many swirls of white. They noticed that they're diverging off the straight path of the glimmering light "No, no, no, no, no, no..." They began to curve away from their designated path.

"No! We can't lose it!" The femme snarled as she noticed. She moved her way back to where the other mechs were, her wound leaking energon as she stared. "Scrap, we ain't gonna be near it when we land. But we sure as hell are gonna be closer than others."

Deep down, the pilot mech knew that was true, as much as he hated how far they've come only to know lose track of it. But now there was the matter of landing the pod. He wouldn't know if entry in this condition would be possible, but he had to do as much as he could. He began to pull a lever, which straightened them out some for the entry. The pilot mech looked to his right and took one good look at the glimmering light before it vanished into the unknown planet. He closed his optics as they began entry, the pod beginning to be enveloped by a barrier of air and fire.

The femme quickly returned to where she had been previously, powering down her optics and leaning back into the wall behind her. She hoped to Primus that things would go right, it would be a grab and able to rebuild their planet and population in peace. Though her thoughts faded as she fell into sleep from the bleeding wound.

The tall mech simply closed his optics as the chances of their survival seem far too slim. It looked like none of them well get to see their new world rebuilt after all. The pod began to slowly break apart more and more as they got closer and closer to the surface. The pilot mech opened his optics and pulled another lever and the pod dove at a slant as they sour through the new world's sky.

—

The large mech sat on his throne with his legs spread out and his digits intertwined. He looked at the screen before him. White stone hills at first and beyond them is the blue planet before them. He groaned to himself in thought.

The silent mech gently tapped the large mech on his shoulderplate, a bit timid to interrupt his thoughts. He quickly pieced together some voiceclips so he wouldn't have to talk. "Shockwave- requires your presence in-his laboratory-bay."

The large mech got up from his throne and made his way down a couple of corridors to the laboratory-bay.

The other large mech was busy trying to put all his tools back where they were, his violet and black color scheme glinting slightly. His singular optic glanced around, double checking his experiments to make sure they were in the correct spot.

"My insidious genius, Shockwave. What is it that you've called me for?" The large mech asked.

"You seem to have crashed, which is illogical beyond measure. Unless that pod had two aerocrafts, at the least, which is plausible." The other mech's monotonous voice rung out as he turned to face the other.

"If I needed the obvious stated to me, I would've had someone run a status report. Yes two measly aerocrafts have gotten us grounded." The large mech admited.

"And where in deep space are we? I do not recognize much of what is around." The other mech grunted as he walked over, his footsteps thumping loudly. "It would be illogical if this area was not on our star maps."

"The thing it's, it is on our star maps. Yet, I don't recall us ever visiting a 'solar' system before." The large mech said as he looked at Shockwave.

The other mech let out a bit of a grunt, breaking his monotone usual self before turning and returning to his console. He began to type coordinates in, "We're in the gamma quadrant of the fly-capable scouting module, most Cybertronians know this as the Milky Way. Strange designation."

"No doubt a name given by whatever sentience lives here." The large mech concluded as he folded his arms.

"Indeed. We should scout out the nearest planets for life, after retrieving the Allspark. If the pod survived, and the bots inside it did, they're mine for experiments." The other mech turned back to face the other with a nod.

The large mech nodded, "Of course. And by the looks of the planets and moons of this solar system, they'll be a great start to our conquest of the galaxy. A fine start indeed."

"Highly logical, Megatron." The other mech motioned for him to walk back towards the bridge with a servo, "You best check on your troops, especially your insubordinate second in command."

"Quite right...But with us being as close as we are, I can't let anything hinder us...Not even the likes of Starscream..." The large mech turned away and exited the laboratory.

The other mech followed after him, optic narrowing as he eyed the troops that scrambled past the two huge mechs. The silent mech continued to work in the bridge, the medic in his own bay to work. The silver mech was watching over the silent mech's shoulder, unsuspecting that Shockwave would be coming.

"Troops! All optics on me!" The large mech all aboard the Nemesis, known as Megatron, commanded.

The other mech clasped his arms behind his back, looking to the large mech. The silver mech seemed a bit startled before he quickly turned to face the other, the silent mech looking at Megatron as well.

"As you all know, we are suffering minor setbacks, but sure enough. This, here, is the final frontier for us. Many stellar cycles have past since the start of this war and now it will come to its indefinite close. There!" Megatron pointed to the blue planet behind them. "Is where the Allspark rests now. And soon, it will call in fragments of our broken world to it. This will be not only a new start for Cybertron, but for Decepticon kind as whole!" He declared as he raised his servos half-way about his helm.

The troops nodded in response, a soft and nearly silent scoff coming from the silver mech. The other large mech looked towards him, making him recoil and shift to hide behind the silent mech. He turned his head back to looking at the large mech.

"This planet holds life of some sort. We don't know what, but it won't matter as we will desyroy any and everything in our wake! This is the one task left for us, my Decepticons. To find the Allspark and mold the future in our image!" Megatron pronounced.

Shockwave nodded his agreement, noticing Starscream recoil further behind Soundwave. Soundwave nodded, before turning back to his console and getting to type onto it. It was already getting to work, as was his purpose.

Megatron turned away from his troops and looked to Shockwave. "How long will it take for the main boosters to be operational gain?"

"I have yet to assess the damage, it is between a solar cycle and several solar cycles. If the main boosters are too damaged, it would take much too long to repair them." Shockwave looked away with narrowed optics towards Starscream. Starscream stared at the larger mech before Shockwave turned to assess the damage.

Megatron looked back to the Earth and stroked his chin with his sharp claws. "What a beautiful world to begin our conquest..." He said to himself, observing and admiring it.

—-

It was what felt like a millennia when the femme woke up again, optics powering online and opening. However, she wasn't greeted with the sight of her team. It was a strange land, large trees surrounding her and covering most of the land. She went to push herself to stand, only to find she couldn't move. Her optics quickly scanned the area, finding a Cybertronian life signature getting closer.

"Good... you're awake." A gruff, monotonous feminine voice erupted from the Cybertronian once they got into sight, their singular ruby-colored optic staring at the femme they had held in place. Moving her cannon from her hip, she tilted the femme's head up to look at her. "You'll do me good, maybe even surprise Megatron with a gift once he lands on this wretched planet."

"Who are you?" The lithe femme snarled, earning a bit of a laugh from the other. The other squatted down, placing her cannon right above the femme's spark chamber.

"Me? My dear, I'm Genesis. The beginning of your worst nightmare." The larger femme smirked before standing, lowering her cannon back to her side.

—-

The other mechs were still stationed in the crashed pod. They had left a trail of scorched and broken trees with a burnt dune trail stretched behind them. The pod, itself, was tattered and burnt as well, with wires and scraps falling apart from it. The mechs in the pod were still unconscious. Until the pilot mech, who's still in the pilot seat hunched over the controls, tiredly opens an optic. It took him a moment for the disorientation to go away before he began to arise from the pilot seat and turned to look at the other unconscious mechs ."Fellow Cybertronians...Are you all still operational..?"

A groan came from the medic, his helm shaking as he slowly came back online from the crash. He opened his optics, squinting them a bit. "A simple crash doesn't knock me offline..." He grunted as he shifted to sit up further. One of the younger mechs let out a bit of a terse beep as he slowly awoke, shifting up to sit up.

—

A hand was laid on a broken tree, a soft frown coming from the female as she continued forward. It was foggy, but she had been following this trail ever since she had found it. Continuing down the dune trail, she flicked on her flashlight to be able to see better in the moisture-cloud.

The pilot mech could see the light in the fog. He went to help the medic up first, before slowly exiting the pod and drawing closer through the light. "Hello?..." The pilot mech asked.

The medic got up before noticing the pilot leave the pod, following after him after helping the other awakened mech stand up. The two of them followed after the other, since they weren't sure what they were getting into.

The female jumped slightly at a Hello coming from apparently nowhere, dropping her flashlight in fear. She shook her head, "I'm just hearing things..." She picked up her flashlight and continued down the path.

"Is someone there?... One of us?" The large mech continued through the fog whilst stepping over broken tree trunks.

The female jumped again and practically threw the flashlight in fear, it clinking against a few broken logs. Her eyes widened and she quickly scrambled towards her flashlight, unsure how to respond. "One of us? Surely you have to be kidding me." The human thought to herself as she quickly snatched up her flashlight once she arrived over at it.

She can hear and feel stomping coming her in general direction. The small lights from their optics were coming into view amidst the fog.

She watched curiously, raising an eyebrow at the lights coming towards her. The human flicked on her flashlight, getting out from her hiding. Despite her need to fight or flight, her curiosity was getting the better of her.

As they near the flashlight, they notice it's more on ground level. "One of the lights from the ship maybe?" The pilot asked his fellow mechs behind him.

The medic shrugged his shoulders, "It wouldn't stay online without a power source. If it's separated from the ship, it should be offline." He explained as he glanced towards the flashlight.

"Excuse me! I'm from no ship that's for sure!" The human yelled, flicking her flashlight to hopefully keep their attention.

The pilot mech stopped. "Now that's odd. It sounds feminine but it doesn't sound Cybertronian in origin. It must be one of the inhabitant this unknown planet." The pilot mech concluded.

The medic noticed the flashlight flashing a bit and raised an optic ridge, "It must be. Perhaps the inhabitant can figure out where the Allspark landed with its maps." The medic added on.

The human crossed her arms, turning off her flashlight. Hopefully she could figure out some sort of communication to make this effectively easier.

The mechs finally come close to the the female girl and are able to look down to see her. They revealed themselves to her as humanoid giants of intricate and complex systems of intertwined metals and cables. "Ah, you must be the inhabitant. Am I correct?" The pilot mech asked.

"You are correct..." Her voice trailed off as she stared at the large mechs, being quite small compared to them. The human blinked her eyes and rubbed them a bit to see if she was seeing this correctly.

The pilot mech knelt down on one knee, "Tell me, who are you? What are you? And where are we?" He asked as he took a quick glance around the forest.

"I am Kasey Dejacko, and I'm a human. You're all on Earth, near a slumbering volcano. We're in Washington." The human tilted her head a bit as she flicked back on her flashlight. "Who and what are you?"

"Our names? ...We'll have to discuss them together as we are what's left as far as I know." The pilot mech stood up. "We are Cybertronians, inhabitants of the planet Cybertron."

"Never heard of Cybertron." The human admitted before she backed up onto a fallen log. She climbed onto it and sat down on it, "You seem high tech, why are you guys here?"

"The very lifesource of our planet, the Allspark, has ventured through the stars and has finally made its destination here. Where? We do not know...As we were just about to enter your planet's atmosphere, our pod was damaged and we were thrown off course..." The pilot mech said, in a mildly low tone.

The human was about to say before a yell of pain echoed out in the woods. She quickly scrambled to stand, staring towards where the yell came from. "I'm assuming one of you guys because our yells can't echo that loudly?"

The pilot looked into the woods "Must be. I had noticed we were one short. Quickly you two!" He said urgently to the other two mechs as he began to jog through the woods towards the source of the yell.

The youngest of the three mechs quickly snatched up the human, the medic running after the pilot. The younger mech kept a good hold on the human to not drop her, optics wide. What could cause pain that was that large on this planet?

—-

The large femme practically threw the smaller one into a set of trees, making her yell out again. The larger femme glared down at the smaller, "Tell me where it is and your death will be swift."

"I'm telling you! I don't know!" The smaller femme snarled before the larger grabbed her again, lifting her into the air with a single servo.

The other mechs come through and see the two femmes, one holding the other in midair. "Stop! Don't go any further! We aren't in search of any altercation." The pilot mech reasoned.

The large femme turned her single optic towards the mech and threw down the smaller back to where she had lifted her up from. "Yet you remain online. Which is illogical from how bad that crash site of yours was wrecked." She grunted, her cannon thrumming with power.

The human stared from the youngest mech's hand, terrified of the large robotic organisms. She ducked her head into the shadows so she wouldn't be seen.

"I had our pod enter at an angle. That way it wouldn't just be us a straight and absolute crash. And I don't remember you being on the pod with us..." The mech stated with a bit of confusion.

"Because I wasn't." The larger femme chuckled, before she lifted up the smaller femme again. Her attention shifted to the smaller femme she had a grasp on, "I simply came here of my orders. From my commander." Her claw-like fingers kept a tight grip as she glanced back to the mechs.

The medic narrowed his optics, "I don't think she's one of us... No one would be that aggressive." That made the femme smirk before tossing the smaller one at them.

"Since she didn't answer me, maybe you will!" The larger femme snarled.

The pilot mech caught the smaller femme and looked at her damage. Then he looked to the other femme, "Answer what?"

"Where is the Allspark?" The other femme growled, narrowing her optics in anger. The youngest mech set the human on his shoulder before glaring back at the other femme.

The smaller femme let out a bit of a growl, "She isn't listening... We lost track of it, fragger!" She snapped, earning a snarl from the larger femme.

"She is right...We had lost track of it during entry. We do not know where the Allspark is." The mech confirmed.

The larger femme let out a growl before she glared down at the smaller femme. Without another word, she quickly left the area, to unknown destinations. Her form swiftly disappeared amongst the trees, gone, for now.

The smaller femme had minor damage, nothing too major. She sighed and shook her head, "She said her designation was Genesis. I don't remember anyone on Cybertron being called that." She grunted as she slowly made her way to stand.

"And I don't remember anyone else having a singular optic. Outside of...Him...Hmmm...Let's return to the pod." The mech sighed as he lead the way back to the pod while carrying the femme.

"Have you made contact with anyone from this planet?" The femme asked as she glanced up at the mech, "Perhaps they know the location of the Allspark. Would give us a lead."

The medic and younger mech followed suit, the human hiding with the younger mech. Hopefully she would get answers, better answers than ones she had received.

"Only a small inhabitant called a 'human'. She does not know where much less what the Allspark is." They make it to the burnt trail they left behind and from there, they all began to follow it back to the pod.

The tall mech slowly began to gain consciousness. He shifted his gears around some, adjusting to the discomfort. He easily saw the rest of the survivors coming back. He got to his pedes and passed his fellow mech, who is still unconscious. "I have to say. You did a swell job saving our lives. I was certain we were doo-." The tall mech stopped mid-sentence as he saw the femme, "What happened to you?"

The femme grinned, "Would you believe me if I said I got dragged several clicks east?" She was just trying to make light of the moment before wincing. "Perhaps the human would be able to explain this planet to us, at the least. Where are we anyways?" She asked the mech that was carrying her.

Kasey grunted as she sat on the younger mech's shoulder, she wanted to speak but decided it was best to wait. After all, these guys crash landed. Maybe they needed time to rejuvenate.

The mech sat the femme down in the pod then glanced to the medic. "Medic. Can you repair her?"

The medic nodded, "Should be simple enough, I can repair her within a few nanoclicks." The medic moved past the mechs to the femme, getting to work on repairing the minor damages.

The mech looked to the still unconscious mech. "Wake him up." He ordered.

The younger mech quickly moved past the medic and the femme, going over to the unconscious mech. He shook him a bit to wake him up, since it was easiest to do. The human sat on the younger mech's shoulder, looking around.

The unconscious mech mumbled something before waking up startled. He flung his arms around, accidentally smacking the younger mech. "Come get some, Decepti-scum!"

The younger mech stumbled back with wide optics, before glancing at the other survivors. The human shifted on the younger mech's shoulder, the younger mech taking her off his shoulder and holding her in his hand.

The, now awake, mech paused and looked around at the other survivors. "What're you losers looking at?"

"About time you woke up." The femme grunted before wincing when the medic finished. He gave her a soft glare before getting up, looking towards the formerly unconscious mech.

"Seems we're all awake now." The medic grumbled, crossing his arms.

The, now awake, mech looked at Kasey for a moment. He got up and took a closer look to the point where his face would be considered a bit too close for comfort. "What on ..Cybertron.." He removed himself from Kasey's personal space and looked out of the pod exit. "...We aren't on Cybertron, are we?" Before anyone could answer him, he ran outside into the woods and looked around nervously. "What the-. What is this?! What the-!" He ran back into the pod and is basically in everyone's face, pointing outside in disbelief. He then turned his sight to the pilot mech. "You!" He walked up to the pilot mech, only to show that he is slightly taller than him by a few feet. "What is this?! Where are we?!"

"That is what I need to tell you all...But first priorities, we must be acquainted with one another before we try to assess the situation. So let's form together, so that we may share and remember the points that have lead us here to this world." The pilot mech spoke slowly, calmly, and quite collectively.

The femme pushed herself into a standing position, leaning on the medic. "Figure out what we remember before we crashed? All I got in my processor is the dented metal that larger femme had." She grunted before she noticed Kasey as well.

Kasey had shrunk back from the other mech and even more so when the femme looked at her. She hid in the youngest mech's hand, the younger mech making a bit of a confused expression.

"Not just before the crash...But before the war..." the mech spoke in a somber tone.

The femme winced at the mention of the war and looked away from the others. She crossed her arms, optics narrowed. What could they piece together? Would it even be enough?

Kasey stared at the mention of war. "Great. Crash landed and in a war." She sighed mentally and came out from her hiding place, the younger mech tilting his helm.

"What for? So we can cry about it and complain about the hopelessness of our existence?" The other mech snickered in a sarcastic tone.

"I say this...Because we may be the only ones who've made it off the planet intact...And with the Allspark dislocated from its rightful place as our planets center, then that already labels an end to an age. And hopefully the start of a new one. We must not forget who we are, for from this point on, we must castaway our original functions. And fight for the renewal of Cybertron." The mech stated.

"Also to help the inhabitant of this planet understand our existence. She surely seems confused." The medic added on as he glanced at Kasey. "Much like we have to understand hers, but that will come in time."

The femme looked forward, "We best start figuring out places we remember then. So we can piece together some sort of timeline of events."

"Not of home. Not yet. But our own. I'll begin. I am Orion Pax and you will know the truth of who I am."

—

 _"I was a diplomat and data clerk during the beginning stages of the Cybertron Civil War. I was being trained in the ways of diplomacy by the 12th Prime himself and King of Cybertron, Alpha Trion. Before the actual war had begun, Several other diplomats and I tried negotiation with the newly formed Decepticon faction. We spoke of a truce, but they would expect nothing less than complete control of Cybertron. They would not budge in their demands and neither would we. When we negotiated all that we could, the Decepticons took action and began an all-out war on the entire planet...From that day forward, while our king led the armies of Cybertron against these deceptive warmongers, I would relay information to its many troops. From giving locations of respice, during and after battles, the enemies numerous whereabouts, new weapon types. I was their basic messenger for many things. Then there was the day...The day Cybertron fell...The many stellar cycles of conflict have torn our world apart...Normally, the Allspark would rebuild it, but more was being destroyed faster than it could be fixed. Alpha Trion put in the order to have it launched into the deep reaches of space, not only to keep it out of enemy hands but to to form a new home. To him, you couldn't wage a war on a planet that no longer was...He also fell that day before my very eyes at the hands of Megatron. Just before he was slain however...He had entrusted me with the legendary spark of the Primes: The Matrix of Leadership. Once, I saw him fall I took it upon myself to escape and give chace to the Allspark as there was no way to keep track of where it would land. I took the whatever pod that was left and blasted off with whoever came with me..."_

—-

There's a moment of silence for a moment until it's broken by the mad mech, "So wait...Y-you...Have...The Matrix of Leadership? The spark passed down by the chosen leaders of Cybertron?"

"Indeed." The mech confirmed, "I've stored it away in a small compartment up front with me. It is still intact. Now which one will tell their tale next?" The mech asked as he glanced around amongst his fellow survivors.

"I will." The femme spoke as she shifted forward, "I am Shadowblitz..."

—

" _Before the war, many knew me as Shadowspark, because of the many abilities I could harness easily. But... when the beginning stages of the war started, I changed my designation to remain hidden from the faction I was supposed to be fighting for. I was out in the field often, a former medic as well as scientist. Made for ease, let alone controlling something that can break even the mightiest of warriors... A good companion trained me, I doubt many would even recall him. Blackout, as was his name, fell during the middle stages of the war, and I was left to guard whatever I could in the databanks he stored.. Upon Alpha Trion's fall, I rushed to where I first met Orion Pax, wounded from several shots of the opposing faction..."_

—

"I can't remember much past that... my processor is still trying to catch up due to the deep space travel and crash landing..." She huffed as she shook her head, glancing around.

"That's fine. I'll go next. My name is Grandcloud and you will know the truth of who I am." The other larger mech spoke.

—-

 _"Before the war, I was serving as a law enforcer in the golden capital of our fair Cybertron, Iacon. Many political rallies, made by the Decepticons, came about into the capital and became swarmed with propaganda to join them in their want for galactic conquest. We didn't think too much of it, just the raving of barbarians, but that underestimation proved to be our down-fall. When the war finally came to, I, as well as the many forces of Cybertron, fought the many hordes of the Decepticons. Though, I and the enforcers were stationed of defensive within the city while the rest of Cybertron's armies fought to keep them out. If the Decepticons took the city, they would've won...Which they did...Not only did they breach the city of Iacon, but my fellow enforcers fell and the king...Was killed...The Decepticons had won...With me being the only enforcer and the planet breaking apart, I sought to preserve myself in hopes that there could be a new beginning for me elsewhere in the galaxy. Unbeknownst to me, my beginning starts here with my fellow survivors."_

—-

The medic leaned forward with a grunt, shaking his helm a bit."I will go next. I am Ratchet, and you will know the truth of who I was."

—

" _I was just another physician on Cybertron, traveling between towns and cities to keep things focused. When the war broke out, however, I kept within Iacon to keep out of danger. I was one of the top in my field, nearing chief medical officer when soldiers and civilians began to come in with injuries, needing to be repaired. As far as I know, I was the only one left when Alpha Trion fell, and I chased after the only thing I knew could save the splitting planet. Meeting Orion Pax, I left there with the group. And now, a new beginning starts here with the survivors."_

—

Everything goes silent for a moment. The mech closest to Orion looked around. "My turn?" He asked.

"I suppose so." Orion confirmed to the shorter mech.

"Ok,ok Ummm." The mech clasped his servos together to prepare himself to tell his tale, "The name is Straightedge and this here is my life story."

—

 _"Before everything went to scrap, I was made with...Three? I wanna say three. Three siblings. My two older brothers were Shatterbeam and Scatterblast. I had a twin brother named Axelrod. Good old Axel. Oh! I also had a sister!_ _Ok, so that makes four._ _Her name waaaaaaasssss Stingbuster, yes! We all served our time in the war to fight those dreadful fraggers we all know as the Decepticons. Sadly enough due to some processor errors, they saw me far too "unruly" to keep in their ranks, so they had to let me go. There was a battle going on at Nova Cronum, the epicenter for data and knowledge. One day when I was walkin', getting drunk and the Decepticons conged that point and went to gather whatever intel they needed. I escaped with several civilians from the conflict, well more or less carried away by the swarms of bystanders trying to flee the scene. I ended up getting trampled badly, which messed me up. Then the planet was breaking apart and I fell a few levels. So that messed me up even more. Then when I was still active, I crawled my way back to surface level and made it to a pod, though at that time was sure certain wasn't getting of the planet, so I resigned myself to fate. And I sure didn't see any of y'all on the ship. Either that or I just didn't care. Either way, blacked out for a second. Open my eyes and we're here on E-Arth."_

—-

"Earth." Kasey corrected as she sat on the younger mech's hand, "It's Earth, not E-arth." She added on.

The younger mech let out a few beeps of confusion, it obviously meaning he couldn't speak. Hopefully someone would be able to translate, no one could really understand outside of a Cybertronian.

Straightedge looked at everyone else around him. "Sooooo, I'm not the only one who just heard just beeps or boops from this mech, right?" He asked.

"Something must be wrong with his voice-box." Orion concluded.

"Ok, so I wasn't the only one." Straightedge sounded relieved as he spoke.

"It's Cybertronian morse code. Rarely used but luckily, at least I can understand some of it." Shadowblitz sighed as she shook her head, the femme straightening up.

"You can understand it?" Ratchet inquired as he glanced to the femme, who simply shrugged her shoulders.

"You try living with a mad mech who only communicates in it or with a datapad, you'll pick it up." Shadowblitz chuckled before glancing at the younger mech. The younger mech let out some beeps and whirls, tilting his head a bit. "His name is Bumblebee, a scout and messenger from the beginning of the war. He's probably the youngest of us, made before the loss of the Allspark." The femme translated, Kasey tilting her head curiously.

"I see. Now that we've introduced ourselves, we best start working together as a unit. Our main objective is the locate the Allspark whilst preparing for the Decepticon Battle Fleet." Orion ordered.

Shadowblitz sighed a bit, "Preparation best come with this climate, I'm enough with this strange moisture in the climate." She grumbled as she glanced out of the pod. Ratchet rolled his optics but nodded in agreement. Bumblebee let out a few more whirls, before motioning to Kasey in his hand. "Bee is wondering what about the native." Shadowblitz added on quickly.

Orion looked to Kasey, "Is there any questions about what you have heard from us?" He asked as he took a few steps towards her.

Kasey shrugged her shoulders, "Curious what the Matrix of Leadership is, but I have no need to truly know." She uncrossed her arms and stood up in Bumblebee's hand, "Just let me know if there is any way I can assist, despite my natural need to run away." She gave a sheepish grin before shrugging her shoulders again and crossing her arms once more. Bumblebee let out a few whirs and rolled his optics.

"Then let us adjust our new surroundings. Can you guide us, Kasey?" Orion asked.

"Yeah, I'll just have to follow the trail back." Kasey nodded before she glanced at the others, Shadowblitz smirking a bit. Bumblebee lead the way out of the pod, since he was the one carrying Kasey. Ratchet shook his head and followed after the young scout, looking around.

Shadowblitz motioned for the other three mechs to lead, "I'll take the rear, just incase if Genesis shows up again."

"I'm still wondering how she managed to get here when the rest of the Decepticon faction is still on that stone." Orion wondered aloud as he passed Shadowblitz.

"Who's Genesis?" Grandcloud inquired as he trekked close behind Orion.

"It sounds more like a operation or a phase" Straightedge remarked with his hands resting on top of his helm.

Shadowblitz followed after them, "She's the one who caused all the damage to my form. Why I came back wounded and carried by Orion." The femme grunted after she followed after the mechs, crossing her arms. "She could have been sent forward in a pod of some sort, either that or she was working on the ship's exterior and was flung towards the planet."

Ratchet glanced back, "Neither of those ideas seem easily done. Unless... she was originally sent here far ahead of the ship." The medic grumbled as he looked away, following Bumblebee and Kasey. The young mech leaped over the fallen tree trunks, keeping ahold of the human. Kasey seemed a bit unphased as Bumblebee followed the path.

"That sort of frame is highly dangerous...To be able to come through a planet's atmosphere without damage is a testament to the lethality of this femme." Orion stated as he stepped over some trees.

"Please, Orion. You're speaking as if build equates to power. I'll tell ya', if you ain't competent, then you oughta forget fighting all together." Straightedge stated as he kicked some of the trees out the way, "Also,what are these things on the ground?"

"We only saw part of her, not the entirety. She may have unseen damage." Ratchet sighed and shook his head, "Sometimes build does equate to power, Straightedge. Such was with the single-optic mech." He reminded as he walked forward.

"They're called trees, Straightedge. They provide my people with the air to breath." Kasey explained before she looked around. Surely the path would easily go to where she left her vehicle, but what to do about the sentient robotic beings? They couldn't be seen in the open.

"So what were you doing out here, Kasey?" Grandcloud asked.

"I was driving home from my work, when I saw the scorch marks and broken trees. Curiosity got the best of me." Kasey glanced back at Grandcloud before Bumblebee lifted her up to look at the other mech. She plopped down onto the scout's shoulder as Bumblebee continued to follow the scorched trail. "Why are you asking?" She tilted her head.

"The area seemed so isolated when we awoke. We didn't expect we would be found so soon." Grandcloud stated.

"At least it was just me that found you. If it was someone else, there could've been worse scenarios." Kasey shrugged, "I don't live far from here, I don't think.. I'll have to see where I'm at again once I get to my vehicle."

"Vehicle?" Ratchet seemed curious, raising an optic ridge curiously.

"A peculiar name. What is this 'vehicle' you hold possession of?" Orion asked out of curiosity.

"Uh... It's how I get around besides walking. Able to drive to where I need to get to in less time." Kasey shrugged before Bumblebee let out a few whirls. She turned around and hopped onto the young scout's hand, being set on the ground once they arrived at the end of the trail.

"Where do we go from here?" Grandcloud asked as he continued to look around the slightly foggy forest.

Kasey continued to lead the way, through the last bit of trees before she groaned a bit. "I think the one we saw earlier was here..." Her car was crushed, easily.

Bumblebee shook his head, letting out a beep and a whirl. Shadowblitz waved off his response, looking around for the other femme.

"Soooo...You lost your vehicle? So you gotta walk to where you need to be?" Straightedge asked.

"Precisely." Kasey sighed before Bumblebee lifted her up again, gently this time. The younger mech turned to face the others with a shrug.

"I can fly you where you need to go." Grandcloud suggested, "Just tell me where to."

"And leave your friends?" Kasey chuckled, "Not a chance, we don't need that other one showing up again."

"Then let us begin our trek. Which direction, Kasey?" Orion asked.

Kasey pointed a way, "That way. Though try to stay out of sight. We don't need anyone noticing you."

"Why? Can your species not handle our epic existence?" Straightedge joked as they begin trekking their given direction.

"Well... it's either that or experimentation from my government." Kasey had a serious tone as Bumblebee took the lead. Shadowblitz had shifted to where she stood beside Orion, nervous of course.

Orion let her words sink in, "Does that answer your question, Straightedge?"

Straightedge shifted his dermas around and put on a nervous smile, "Well, what's the worse they could do, am I right?"

Kasey glanced back at Straightedge, "They can make my people vanish without a trace never to be found." She sighed before she looked away. Bumblebee looked back at Orion, a bit nervous.

"Anything else you want to ask, Straightedge?" Orion asked, albeit slightly agitated.

Straightedge, at this point, is quite nervous himself. "No-no. I think...I think I'm good..."

Orion releases a sigh from his enstrils as they continue their walk, "Then tell us, Kasey. What must we do to keep from discovered?"

Bumblebee looked forward, continuing to walk quietly. "Find some way to disguise yourselves. You-" Kasey paused and pointed at Grandcloud, "You said you could fly me to where I needed to go. Can you transform into something?"

"Yes. I am an aerocraft." Grandcloud confirmed.

"Simple. You hide among my people as vehicles." Kasey grinned, "I have a large amount of space at my place so you can stay there instead of constantly finding places to hide."

"Oh thank Primus, we're saved!" Straightedge exclaimed with joy. He then looked back at his fellow survivors and see they're all giving him confused looks. "Oh...D-don't mind me, I'm just...Just relieved is all..." He rubbed the back of his helm, a bit embarrassed.

Shadowblitz shook her helm, "Let's just continue forward." Kasey motioned for Bumblebee to turn down a side road, mostly a dirt path. Ratchet grumbled a bit at his exclamation, shaking his head.

It wasn't that long until they reached their destination, Bumblebee setting Kasey down. Kasey motioned around them, many cars lined up around the house. "Take your pick, as for aerial vehicles, I do not have one." She admitted before looking back at them. Her house was situated on a small hill, a large warehouse-like building behind it.

"Awwwww yeaaah!" Straightedge marveled at her collection of cars, optics wide in eagerness. "You've got quite the taste, human." He complimented.

"My father was a mechanic, so I learnt and I usually use parts from these to build or repair." Kasey grinned a bit before shrugging. Shadowblitz meandered her way off, Bumblebee trailing off after her.

"Do you think we've found an ally with her?" Ratchet asked Orion as Kasey scrambled after the femme and younger mech.

"I do not know. She hasn't proved to be deceitful as of yet. Besides, her offer of aid of shelter and disguise will prove useful to us in adapting to this planet. So I say for now, she is our ally." Orion concluded as he watched his fellow survivors look at the cars.

"I might need to fly around and myself a suitable disguise. There should be some... if they have vehicles that resemble our alt-modes back on Cybertron." Grandcloud stated to Orion.

"That'll be dangerous if they notice your difference from their own vehicles. Do so in caution." Orion warned carefully.

"I will," assured Grandcloud, "I won't depart just yet though. Not until some of us find suitable disguises here."

"I got this blue one!" Straightedge announced, pointing down at a blue sports car. He scanned the car and began to transform and change color from metallic gray to slick deep blue. His transformation is complete and is now identical to the blue sports car, "Heheh. Best thing that's happened all day." He revved up the engine.

Shadowblitz easily found a silver and blue motorcycle, scanning it easily. She transformed, the deep grey changing to silver and blue. She sat identical to the motorcycle, "Two down."

"I got this one!" Bumblebee beeped and found a black and yellow sports car. Doing similar to the two before him, he scanned it and his paint shifted as he transformed.

Kasey smiled before looking back at the others, "Look around. Keep yourselves within my property boundaries. Grandcloud, if you can find your way north, I think there's a rarely used airstrip with aerial craft."

"Thank you, Kasey. Then with three of our companions in disguise, its best I go to find myself one. Hopefully, I won't be long." Grandcloud turned to leave.

"Take care of yourself, Grandcloud." Orion spoke before Grandcloud boosted himself in midair. The mech swiftly transformed into his alt-mode, then blasting off northward.

"Orion Pax, Ratchet. Find yourself disguised." Kasey perked up, making her way back over to where she left them. Shadowblitz transformed and walked back over, fixing a tire on her heel. Ratchet began look around, shaking his head a bit. He hoped this would easier than it seemed.

Orion noticed Ratchet's dilemma, then looked back to Kasey. "I don't intend to offend. Your collection, though quite unique, they won't suffice for biggers mechs like Ratchet and I. If you don't have anything bigger, then we too might have to venture off in search of something more suitable."

"Hm... I might. I'll have to check my storage." Kasey made her way towards the large building in the back. "Venturing out is more dangerous." She shrugged before she pushed open one of the doors to go look inside.

Orion peeked inside himself, his optic illuminating the darkness only briefly.

There was larger vehicles, ranging from a semi to a military hummer. Kasey glanced around before finding the light switch, flicking it on to better show the vehicles inside.

Orion walked into her garage and examines her extended collection, clearly impressed by the sheer amount of vehicles. "Ratchet! In here!" He called.

Ratchet glanced up before curiously followed the sound of Orion's voice, walking into the garage. "Interesting... you seem like a collector." He remarked to Kasey.

Kasey shrugged before sitting on the hood of a vehicle covered with a tarp. "Some of these aren't completely my doing with repairs."

Orion's optics eyed the extended collection, more specifically the semi's. He saw one with a red, white, and blue color scheme. He walked over to it while keeping from hitting anything.

Ratchet began to eye the collection, heading over to a small set of what seemed to be medical vehicles. He eyed one with white and orange paint, noticing the crosses on its sides.

Kasey looked back outside, Shadowblitz and Bumblebee conversating easily in the jumbled Cybertronian Morse Code. She chuckled a bit and leaned back against the hood, shaking her head.

Straightedge was driving back and forth in his new alt-mode, disrupting their conversation from time to time. Orion knelt down next to the semi and scanned it. Orion began to transform into his alt-mode as he began to adopt the shape and colors of the semi. Orion's transformation is complete and he looked identical to the semi.

Ratchet scanned the ambulance with ease after several moments of debating. He transformed, sitting next to the opposing medical response vehicle. His colors shift after a moment of transformation.

"Now, all we need to keep an eye out for is Grandcloud." Kasey hopped off the covered vehicle, heading out of the extended collection.

Orion reverted back to his base mode and exited the garage with Kasey. "We can't thank you enough for your aid, Kasey. We are indebted to you." He gave a small bow of respect to her.

"No such thing, Orion. My race is compassionate, the least I could do is assist." Kasey glanced up at him and simply shrugged her shoulders, leaving the garage with him. Ratchet followed suit, reverting back to his bipedal mode.

Shadowblitz shook her helm a bit as she sat with Bumblebee, "Are you enjoying yourself Straightedge?" She chuckled, crossing her arms.

Straightedge reverted to his bideal mode and walked over towards his two fellow survivors. "I'm feel like the most alive Cybertronian and the fraggin' galaxy! HAHAHAHAAA! What about you guys?"

"I feel like you just broke my audio receptors." Shadowblitz grunted before she rubbed one of her tires that was set in her heel, shaking her head. "Feels weird bein' on a planet with life on it."

"Kasey isn't that bad though. She offered us shelter and disguises so we can find the Allspark." Bumblebee beeped and whirled, before Shadowblitz waved off his reply.

"We barely know her, who knows if she'll deceive us." The femme's voice went quiet when she noticed Orion returning out of the extended collection.

"Now that we have our disguises, we must take extra precaution to keep from being discovered by the rest of the humans. Our next objective is to take apart whatever is left of our pod and mold its parts to arm and defend ourselves. The Decepticons will be stuck on that moon for only so long. We must prepare to face them and whatever threat comes our way if we are to locate the Allspark." Orion said with firm urgency.

"Is there anything more I can do to help?" Kasey asked as she hopped onto a car to be able to be seen better. After all, the fog was only now beginning to diminish.

Shadowblitz looked up and nodded, "Especially with who Orion and I dealt with. She will make a come back one way or another." She got up from her sitting position, glancing around. Bumblebee nodded as well, eager to get going.

"You've helped quite the big deal today, Kasey. Already doing this might put you in opposition with your kind. Is this truly what you want?" He asked with genuine concern and clarity.

"It would give me a purpose and a need to do something. Otherwise I'm just stuck repairing vehicles." She nodded firmly, "Besides, it's my duty to make sure you lot aren't seen."

Orion gave a small nod to her answer. He turned away and looked away towards the sun, its rays coming through the trees. It's increasing warmth can be felt on his metal _"As this star rises to give light to this race, we too will do the same for ours."_ He promised to himself, "My fellow survivors. With me." With that, Orion transformed into his alt-mode and began to drive the way back where they came.


	2. Chapter 2: Necessary Adjustments

Chapter Two: Necessary Adjustments

Aboard the Nemesis, Megatron examined a starmap of the Earth on the ship's deck. He looked at it long and hard. Thinking. About the whereabouts of the Allspark, but also of the planet itself. Something about it seemed...Off to him. And he pondered what it could be that had his processor whirling.

"Lord Megatron." Starscream interrupted his thoughts, shaking his helm a bit. "Shockwave, once again, requires you in his laboratory." He spoke smugly, rather hating the fact that the scientist was rather fierce in his own way. "He said it's something about one of the projects he told you about."

"Ah yes." Megatron was always thrilled to hear the scientific endeavors of one of Cybertron's smartest minds. Especially if it aided them in their cause."I'll go to meet him. Starscream, make yourself useful and examine the planet's terrains and conditions for me." With that order, Megatron made his way towards Shockwave's laboratory.

Starscream nodded and began to examine the terrains with the star map. Hopefully something simple like their own terrain, rather than something that can tear everything to bits.

Shockwave was typing away on a panel, optic narrowed before he shifted away. He flicked up a data pad, checking different things as he patrolled around his laboratory.

Megatron entered through the giant sliding doors to laboratory. "You have something to tell me, Shockwave? The boosters or something else?" He asked, still walking towards Shockwave's direction.

"Yes. I assume you remember Project Genesis? The reformed medic I made?" Shockwave asked as he turned around, "She made her way to Earth, according to where her signal is."

"Has she?" Megatron stopped several yard away from Shockwave, in shock with somewhat wide optics. "Unbelievable. Especially considering atmospheric entry being as dangerous as it it. Can you by chance communicate with her from here?"

"I do not know. Most likely, I can input her into your comms as well." Shockwave turned away, typing away on the panel again. "I will contact you if so, or you can wait here until I make contact."

"And what is the status on the boosters? How much longer until we can leave this bleak, white rock?" Megatron let the shock fade from his faceplates, clasping his servos behind his backstrut.

"Boosters are being repaired as we speak. Main booster is almost operational, I will be going to look back into them after I get a better signal off of Genesis." Shockwave continued to type away on a panel, before he flicked up a data panel on Genesis. "Her signal seems to be masked a bit, logical explanation is to keep hidden from any of the survivors that chased the Allspark."

"Tch. She could waste them all right now. Very few of them are made for combat. It would be nothing short of an easy victory for someone of her background and enhanced skills, would it not?"

"That is if her weapon systems are operational. And if much of her is intact. As previously said, the atmospheric entry is dangerous, thus could end up causing different system failures."

Megatron was slightly agitated at this. Even more so that the survivors aboard that pod may have actually made it to the planet alive. Then again, it's not that big of a worry when he clearly had the might and the numbers. Plus, whatever threat may lie on the planet. Speaking of which "Shockwave, I must tell you. Something about this planet plagues my thoughts." He moved a servo to his chin and stroked it with his claw-like digits. "It's like it's...Relevant to us somehow..."

"Relevant?" Shockwave asked, pausing his typing. "Illogical, it's just another to bring for the galactic conquering." The mech went back to typing across the panel, before glancing back at the larger of the two mechs. "Genesis's coordinates have been found and locked on, proceed with contact?"

Megatron retracted his servo from his faceplate. "Yes, proceed."

A brief bit of static interrupted the commlink before a feminine voice responded, "Lord Megatron. I assume Shockwave managed to find my signal through this ridiculous mess of an atmosphere?"

"Yes, he has. Nothing short of genius. Report your status, Genesis." Megatron walked a little closer to the panel.

"Most systems are up and running, weapons system is still down. Going through this atmosphere had torn several panels off, but the mission will succeed. The survivors have Shadowspark with them, and I have no doubt that her abilities still function." Genesis grunted before a sigh came through, "Disguise is inbound, and I'm unsure how many are alive at this moment."

"Hmm. Shadowspark, you say? She was the one who defeated Starscream, wasn't she?" Megatron asked, looking towards Shockwave for the answer.

Shockwave nodded at him, before continuing to keep the link open.

"She is much more vulnerable with this atmosphere. I was nearly able to terminate her until several mechs showed up where I was." Genesis added on in dismay, "Orders, Lord Megatron?"

"Gather as much data on the planet as you can and steer clear of the survivors. The less they see of you, the easier it will be when your fully operational again. I'd very much would like to not have to deal with them in any matter and focus on solely locating the Allspark. Check on them every now and again and brief us on their activities, but do _not_ allow them to detect you."

"Of course, Lord Megatron." With that, Genesis shut off the commlink. The panel flicked down, before Shockwave turned his helm to Megatron.

"Now that we have a slight advantage, I will return to repairing the boosters." With that, the more violet-schemed mech strolled past the other.

Megatron nodded, before turning to leave the laboratory. He returned to the command bridge. "Anything new, Starscream?"

Starscream jumped a bit before relaxing, "No, Lord Megatron. The swirling, white masses make it difficult to examine the surface of the planet."

Megatron looked at Earth, his optic ridges furrowing a bit. "Hrrrmmmm. What about where we are now? What is the rock we've landed on?"

"The inhabitants of the planet call it their Moon. And just that." Starscream looked back to Megatron after he finished typing on a panel.

"How did you come across _that_ information?" Megatron asked, looking at Starscream in a bit of surprise.

"Assuming, Lord Megatron. Similar to how other planets retain a building similar." Starscream turned back to the panel, "It's simply a white stone, nothing more. No special properties or otherwise."

"Still, while we're here on this Moon of theirs, we best see what all is on this rock to see if there's anything we could use for our future plans." Megatron looked back towards the Earth.

"Of course, Lord Megatron. Shall I send a squadron out to inspect the area?" Starscream asked as he once again began typing on a panel.

"Yes. Split them up evenly and have them go each direction."

"Of course, Lord Megatron." Starscream began contacting troops, before he went to give them their orders.

Megatron continued to look at Earth. _What is it about you that's so...Strange?_ He asked himself, obviously not expecting to be answered.

The survivors were taking the pod apart, taking the materials, controls, and wires to the whole thing.

"We must work quickly as possible before that Decepticon returns and before anymore humans come this way." Orion stated as he began to dismantle the pod's controls.

"So, Kasey. Does anyone else live up here other than you?" Straightedge asked as he separated some of the scrap into piles.

"Not really, most people are down further towards the base of the volcano." Kasey said from her spot, which was sitting near one of the trees. Just to keep out of the way of the survivors and their cause. "There are more people up further, but it's a very small town. Maybe one hundred to two hundred of people at most."

Shadowblitz and Bumblebee were working on disconnecting wires, Bee taking what was salvageable and setting it off to the side.

"I'm still surprised no one has come by to see this. I mean this is a pretty huge pod. And it just came crashing from space and whatnot, and burnt some trees. I just find that off that you're the only one that found us. Not saying I'm not grateful though." Straightedge took the wires and put them in their individual pile.

"No one gets curious. They may have thought rocks from Mt. St. Helens." Kasey shrugged as she got up, glancing around the woods at the trees. She eyed a branch a bit above her height and jumped up, grabbing onto it and swinging up onto it. "Besides, the most the upper town usually comes down is for the schooling."

"Oh okay! And here I thought you were the only one crazy enough to live next to something that could kill you."

"I have for years. I originally lived by the shore, which could have tidal waves and tsunamis. In which, that could have killed me as well." She swung up to another branch, sitting down on it and shrugging.

"Soooo, you like staying near places that could kill you?"

"I don't know. You tell me, I now have six robotic lifeforms to keep hidden."

"You might just be _the_ craziest lifeform I've ever met or the bravest."

"I'd like to believe the latter." Orion chimed in as he came with the removed levers and control pad and handed them to Straightedge, who then took them and set them down as their own pile

"Can I add my input in? Mixture of both." Kasey chuckled as she swung her legs on the branch, watching them curiously.

"It does take both to deal with something alien." Bumblebee added quickly, glancing towards the others.

"I agree Bumblebee, it does take both to deal with something you're not used to." Shadowblitz nodded in agreeance with Bumblebee.

"But there is also something crazy I must ask you, Kasey. Do you mind if we outfit your storage areas with our technology? We have no place to dispose of it, plus, this will prove beneficial to us for defense and tracking." Orion asked in curiosity.

Kasey shook her head, "I have an empty warehouse, you can modify it to your needs." She looked back towards the way they came, keeping an eye out for the Decepticon that they saw previously. "It isn't crazy, you have to do what is needed, Orion."

"You have _another_ warehouse? How did you get your hands on so much space?" Straightedge asked with a bit of a surprised grin.

"It wasn't just my place originally. My father and I lived together, doing repairs on vehicles." Kasey explained a bit, "I cleared out a lot of vehicles when he died, but I never got rid of the space."

"I am sorry to hear your father passed away. He was a good father to you, yes?" Orion asked.

Kasey shook her head, before sighing and swinging to hang upside down on the branch. "He was great to me... All I had."

"Well hey, if your race has place where your dead go, then it should be all good, right?" Straightedge asked.

"I guess." Kasey shrugged before she swung down from her brand, heading down onto a lower one.

Shadowblitz stopped and her wolf-like audio receptors perked, her strange colored optics looking around.

Orion turned and noticed Shadowblitz looking elsewhere. "Are you picking up something, Shadowblitz?"

"Movement, northward. Possibly Grandcloud, possibly Genesis. Unable to tell." Shadowblitz replied, setting down the scrapped wires. "We best continue. If it's Genesis, we'll be outgunned."

"Let wrap this up. We'll take what we can for now and come back later." Orion spoke to everyone present.

Kasey hopped down from her place in the tree, Bumblebee catching her and placing her on the ground. Shadowblitz returned her attention back to what was left of the pod and continued with a few more bits of wire. "Alright."

Orion quickly went back into the pod towards where the control seat used to be. He opened the compartment, a dim blue light shines from inside. He opened it with his servos, put them into the compartment, and brought out a large spark within an intricate cage. Orion turned and left the pod. Straightedge noticed what Orion was holding and instantly bellowed back in surprise. "Whoa, you were serious?!"

"Yes, I was. I have no reason to lie to you. What you see before _is_ the Matrix of Leadership." Orion showed the Matrix to everyone.

Kasey stared at the object curiously, tilting her head to the side. Bumblebee had done a motion similar, unsure what to say. Shadowblitz was silent, her wolf-like ears remaining alert for more movement.

Ratchet had noticed the dim blue light briefly before he turned, "By Primus..."

"Not just by Primus, Ratchet. This _is_ Primus, and all the other Primes as well. We'll discuss more on this back at the warehouse. Kasey, which way is it?" Orion asked Kasey.

Kasey pointed the direction they came from, "Back towards the way we came from, but part of the guiding will be on foot." She explained.

"That is fine. Everyone grab whatever you can." Orion held the Matrix in one servo and picked up all the levers he dismantled in his other arm.

Bumblebee picked up the wiring he and Shadowblitz separated, "Orion, do you think we'll have some sort of advantage over the Decepticons?" He beeped as his helm righted itself.

"Bumblebee is wondering if we'll have an advantage, Orion." Shadowblitz translated slightly as she picked up the control panel, her optics narrowing a bit.

"We would've had the advantage of surprise, but that Deception found us alive. No doubt by this time, she's told the rest of her comrades of our status. And our fighting strength is a tad iffy."

"Psh! Says you you. I'm a straight beast on the battlefield, you know what I'm saying? Heheheheh!" Straightedge bragged as he carried some wires and loose panels. He tripped over a broken tree and fell over, screeching, "Aaah!"

"That's if her commlink systems are operational. Atmospheric entry was dangerous for us." Ratchet reminded as he carried some loose panels. He shook his helm when Straightedge fell over, sighing.

Bumblebee quickly shifted and went to help him up, offering a servo to help him. Kasey sat on the scout's shoulder, a soft snicker coming from her. Shadowblitz shook her head as she had to stop herself from falling over as well.

"Thanks, Bee." Straightedge took his servo and let him pull him up. "Fragfriggin trees!" Straightedge kicked the tree he tripped over and it was sent flying over everyones' heads and into the forest where they couldn't see it. They all then heard a loud crash followed by a number of screaming and yelling. Everyone was wide-eyed as they all turned to look at Straightedge, who was also wide-eyed.

"...Straightedge. You could have set down the panels and gently moved the tree." Kasey shook her head, looking towards where the yelling was coming from. "Probably campers... I didn't think they'd be up here yet."

"Yet?" Shadowblitz growled, "What do you mean, yet?" She shifted the paneling around her arms as she glared daggers at Kasey.

"I'll explain later." Kasey waved off the glare, though it made her nervous. Bumblebee nodded in a you're welcome way before looking around.

"Let's go before we're spotted..." Orion said in an annoyed tone and began to jog.

Shadowblitz jogged after him, Ratchet trailing after the femme. Bumblebee shrugged and glanced at Straightedge before following after the small group.

Straightedge struggled a bit as he scrambled to pick up his load. He jogged after the rest once he's got most of it.  
—

A low growl came from the larger femme as she pushed through some trees, pedes hitting relatively smooth ground. Her optic glanced around, before she noticed she was at looked like an air strip. Good place to find a disguise. Her armor shifted a bit as she began to look around for something that would help her out.

Grandcloud landed not too far from the airstrip and got a view from the distance while kneeling down on one knee. "There it is. but it's wideout in the open. I don't see a whole lot of humans, but I need to find an aircraft quickly less I be discovered." Grandcloud began to circle around to try to keep from being too exposed.

Genesis tore open a hangar, the doors hitting the ground as she peeked inside. She knelt down on one knee, inspecting the vehicles inside. "Hmph, unsuitable." She got up and continued to look.

"What was that?" She heard a strange voice. "I don't know, but it sounds close to the hangar. Let's investigate." She heard. another. No doubt the humans occupying the airstrip.

A low growl erupted from the femme as she quickly shifted, looking back at the vehicles inside of the hangar. She quickly scanned one, transforming and sitting next to the hangar in silence. Hopefully the natives didn't see her.

Two soldiers arrived to see the whole hangar door torn off. "What the h-What happened?!"

"I couldn't tell you!" The two turned to look inside the hangar to see nothing out of the ordinary. They got their assault rifles ready and in hand. They continued inside to investigate further. Their eyes ever alert for anything suspicious.

Grandcloud made it behind on of the buildings. He looked through one of the windows to see most of the other soldiers sitting in a room with four round-tables, a coffee counter, and a television. He looked at what they're watching and apparently it was the news. On the screen, there's a large-curved, metallic spike sticking up from a mountain with a large lake inside of it. There's a title on the bottom screen that reads "The Horn of Chicxculub." _"Hmmm...How peculiar..."_ Grandcloud thought to himself as he continued on to find a suitable vehicle form.

Genesis slowly backed away from the hangar, hoping not to draw unneeded attention. She couldn't tell if anyone but the natives were nearby, trying to remain as silent as possible. Though, with a large plane moving, it's hard to tell whether or not someone was driving. Especially if it was a stealth plane.

The two soldiers looked around for a little while longer but didn't notice anything too out of the ordinary. "We probably need to call in about the door. You have your talki on you?"

"No, it needs new batteries. You?"

"Had to let Kyle borrow it to keep him from getting in trouble with the sergeant."

"So it's better you get in trouble than 'Thin Neck' Kyle?" One of them remarked as the two soldiers made their way out of the hangar.

Genesis slowly managed to creep around to sitting behind the hangar, letting out a breath of relief. If she had been caught, she would've been scrap metal when Megatron found out. The femme continued to be silent as she kept her optic peeled for any movement.

Grandcloud continued to move from cover-to-cover to keep from detection. His optics caught sight of a large aircraft on the strip. He peeked over from his cover and only a few human soldiers were walking around closer near the hangars and barracks. He vented out slowly and made a jog towards the large aircraft.

Genesis transformed back into her bipedal mode, the large spikes on the back of her helm twitching with movement in the air. She kept behind cover, servo grabbing onto the side of the building as she peaked out from behind it.

Genesis could easily see Grandcloud jogging towards an aircraft on the air strip. Grandcloud came in range and scanned the aircraft with relative ease. He ran past the aircraft, beginning to transform as he continued to run.

The femme narrowed her optic as he ran off, keeping hidden. Despite the want to scrap some survivors, she kept hidden as per Megatron's orders. Her mask split apart, her lens keeping focused on Grandcloud.

Grandcloud finished his transformation and turned into the aircraft, blasting off back towards the direction of the mountains. Genesis could hear some commotion from the soldiers concerning who took off.

Genesis turned her helm and began towards the commotion, her single servo changing into a fist. She was silent, despite her gears grinding as she walked to get used to the climate.

A group of soldiers were looking at Grandcloud, who had just blasted off.

"Who was that?" One of them asked.  
"Don't know, but it looked like one of our newer models just took off." Another replied with a soft shrug.  
"No one was scheduled though." A soldier with a clipboard in hand was flipping through the pages.  
"Last minute?" The first one asked.  
"Nothing is ever 'last minute'." The second one grunted a bit.  
"We should let the sergeant know and see if we can contact whoever was on that aircraft." The third one huffed a bit with realization.  
"Sure. Also, have you been hearing the news lately? About 'The Horn of Chicxculub"? What do you think it is? Some say it maybe alien in nature." The first one remarked a bit as he shifted in his combat boots.  
"I don't know what it is and right now I'm not concerned. Let's go find out about that craft." The third one waved his hand a bit in dismissal of the thought. With that, the soldiers ran off.

Genesis transformed and quickly moved out onto the runway, heading off to fly out. May as well do some scouting, learn more about the planet. She had to wait until her weapon systems came back online to do much damage.

—  
The survivors made it back to Kasey's place. "Where is this workshop of yours, Kasey?" Orion asked.

Kasey pointed further into her property, "There. Behind the other warehouse. One face this way, one faces the other."

The survivors went in the given direction and they finally made it to the entrance of the warehouse. "Is this is?"

"Yes." Kasey motioned for Bumblebee to set her down, which he did. She pushed up the doors with a bit of trouble, due to a bit of rust built up. "Here, you can use this place."

The survivors entered the large and spacious building, examining the inside of the workshop for themselves.

It was empty, except for a level towards the top that contained some old computers and hardware. Shadowblitz glanced around curiously, her optic glowing a bit in the dark of the warehouse. Bumblebee was anxious to get started, though Ratchet was more curious about the nature of such a building.

Orion saw it as a decent enough set up for now. "Alright everyone, let's drop all that we've gathered here." Orion dropped the levers, but still held onto the Matrix.

The others set down what they had, Bumblebee gently placing down the wires to not cause more damage to them. He picked up Kasey again, setting her on his shoulder before looking around.

Straightedge came in, breathing heavily. "I made it! Whew! This fraggin' wires kept getting me tripped up!" Straightedge looked around at the workshop. "Goodness, you could house just about all of us in here." Straightedge let his load down.

"Don't get tripped up and you won't fall over." Kasey chuckled as she looked at Straightedge, shrugging a bit. She yawned a bit before shaking her head, turning to face the other again.

"We got what we can for now. We'll go back later and see about retrieving more of our pod. What we're going to do now, is make a temporary base here." Orion stated, "We'll use the materials from our pod to do so, as well as make whatever weapons we may need, if some of us don't already any built in."

"I can assist with weapon makeup. I was built to be on the offensive, not a neutral party." Shadowblitz offered, nodding her helm.

"Good." Orion nodded to Shadowblitz, "But since we don't exactly have any batteries for to supply them with, we'll have to adapt them to Earth's standards." Orion turned to Kasey, "Kasey, what does your kind use for weaponry?"

"It depends on what kind of combat you're going into. Hand to hand, usually either a blade or something around your hands. Short-range and long range, usually guns." Kasey shrugged a bit before she crossed her heels. "Bullets and such are easily manufactured, though the melding and molding of steel is a lot more difficult." She explained a bit.

"Probably not for us. We are not strangers to hand-held weapons." Orion stated, nodding his helm slightly.

"I wielded a sword back on Cybertron!" Straightedge stated, raising his servo. "It's about time I got me a new one. I could make two! Hahaha!"

"What are the primary components to make these weapons?" Orion asked.

"Hm... Usually steel and another strong metal. You have to make the hilt then the blade, if you're going with a sword." Kasey thought a bit, "A gun is a lot harder to explain."

"If you happen to have anything that might hold that information, lend it to us and we can learn it for ourselves."

"I... actually do. All humans do." Kasey motioned for Bumblebee to set her down, in which the young scout did. She ran out of the warehouse, towards her own home.

Orion looked to Ratchet. "Ratchet, is it possible for us to create a forge with these parts we have now?"

"We just need something hot enough to keep a constant heat on the forge, but yes." Ratchet nodded as he took a quick look around at the parts.

"Kasey _did_ say we lived near a volcano." Straightedge stated.

"Do you even know what a volcano _is_ , Straightedge?" Orion asked, looking to Straightedge and sounding still a bit annoyed at the mech.

"No-no, but it _does_ sound hot to me though."

"A volcano is a dangerous natural mountain, able to cause molten rock and ash to pour everywhere. Able to destroy everything in its path." Kasey said as she scrambled back into the warehouse. She had a laptop tucked under her arm, and her short haircut was a bit ruffled up.

"Sooooo, will that do for the forge?" Straightedge asked Ratchet.

"It would." Ratchet nodded before noticing the small device Kasey had. He looked away towards Bumblebee, who had plopped down to sit when Kasey walked in.

"Is that where the information we need lies?" Orion asked, pointing to her laptop.

"And any other information for questions you may have." Kasey nodded with a grin, before she shifted on her feet.

"Excellent." Orion nodded.

They could all hear something coming towards them. Almost like jet engines, which is immediately followed by the sound of transformation.

"I've returned! Is anyone here?" Grandcloud's voice, as it broke the silence, asked.

Shadowblitz chuckled a bit before heading out of the warehouse and waving over at Grandcloud. "Over here. Getting a temporary base set up." She chuckled before she went back inside.

Kasey nodded before she heard Shadowblitz as well as Grandcloud.

Grandcloud jogged over behind the other warehouses to the one everyone else is. "Alright, I've acquired a disgui-." Grandcloud's helm hit the top of the warehouse and he fell back, but managed to stop from hitting the ground with one of his servos.

Straightedge pointed at Grandcloud and began to laugh. "Talk about watching your head, huh?! AAAAHAHAHAHA!"

Kasey bit back a laugh, grinning a bit when she saw Grandcloud's helm hit the warehouse. "I think he's a bit tall."

Shadowblitz shook her head and offered a servo to help Grandcloud up. "This time, duck."

Grandcloud took her servo, "I had forgotten how tall I was. I'll keep that in mind next time."

"If you don't do your processor in first, HAHAHAHAHA!" Straightedge continued to laugh.

"Enough! Grandcloud, we have returned from salvaging some of our pod and are now discussing setting up a temporary base." Orion briefed.

"How temporary is it?" Grandcloud rubbed his helm where there was a small dent.

"Until we are armed and have located the possible whereabouts of the Allspark." Orion answered.

Shadowblitz pulled him up with ease before nodding. She let a small grin slip past her usually serious look before she let go of Grandcloud and meandered her way to where she was standing before.

"Simple and easy hiding spot in the middle of nowhere." Bumblebee shrugged.

"That it is, Bumblebee." Shadowblitz chuckled.

Straightedge had stopped his laughter and looked to Orion and Ratchet, "I still don't know how she can understand this mech."

"Regardless, We are glad you've arrived safely, Grandcloud." Orion nodded to him.

"Thank you, Orion." Grandcloud took notice to the Matrix glowing in Orion's servo. His optics widen. "Is that...?" He pointed to it.

Orion nodded, confirming his answer before he could finish. "It is. The Matrix of Leadership. That comes to the next question...The one I know we all asking ourselves..." Orion said, looking at all the survivors in the warehouse.

Shadowblitz looked away from Orion's gaze, towards the ground. Ratchet was quiet, except for a small sigh that slipped from him. Bumblebee let out a confused beep, Kasey sitting next to the yellow and black mech.

Straightedge looked at everyone, a bit confused, "I know you guys might be a little annoyed with me if I say this but-"

"The question is... Who should the Matrix go to...?" Grandcloud answered Straightedge.

"Ok then fine don't let me finish my sentence, that's cool..." Straightedge mumbled. "But it shouldn't be all too hard, right? Just pop that bad spark into someone and _BAM_! One of us becomes a Prime." Straightedge nodded with a proud smile with that conclusion.

"But it isn't that simple, Straightedge. Primes have specific personality traits, that makes them worthy of having the Matrix." Shadowblitz sighed as she looked up, "Qualities that may seem bland, but it makes them a Prime." She added on with a shake of her head.

"Whoever takes the Matrix in their chamber from then on will be the guider of our race and must ensure its survival and prosperity...I've even heard that whoever becomes Prime allows them to interact with the previous Primes. For it is rumored that when they pass, they do not go to the Allspark, but the Matrix." Grandcloud stated as he continued to look at the Matrix.

Orion let all this information sink in as he, too, looked down at the Matrix he held in his servo.

Straightedge looked to the ceiling and stroked his chin with his digits. "Edge Prime _does_ have a nice ring to it...Ok no it doesn't but Prime Edge? Prime Edge sounds nice." Straightedge smirked a bit at the thought.

"Not you." Kasey added her input, pointing at Straightedge. "No offense, but you aren't focused enough on one task." She huffed with crossing her arms.

Shadowblitz nodded after Grandcloud spoke, before sighing and crossing her arms.

Straightedge angrily pouted.

"I believe...Orion should be the next Prime..." Grandcloud spoke up as he looked up from the Matrix and looked to Orion, who was obviously surprised at his answer.

"I add my agreement." Shadowblitz nodded after Grandcloud, looking to Orion. "You got us here alive, after all." She added on.

Ratchet nodded his agreement as well, crossing his arms. Bumblebee glanced at Straightedge before looking at Orion. Kasey hopped up onto Bumblebee's servo, before he picked her up and got up.

"Ok look here, No offense to you, Pax. But you are by far possibly the weakest link amongst us. I mean, you've never been in a conflict a cycle in you life, have you?" Straightedge suddenly spoke up.

Orion didn't answer.

"Everyone in this room has at least fought or has _seen_ a fight. Has seen battle. Been out their in the field. You...I'm sorry...But from you've told us...You've just been behind a screen watching it all from there while giving us some neat intel. We need a fighter, Pax. And if you can't do that, then I can't see you leading us anywhere but to our deaths." Straightedge said genuinely, without anger or malice, but with sheer honesty.

"We need someone who can lead us. Someone capable besides through thinking, needing action." Ratchet shook his helm a bit before uncrossing his arms.

Kasey and Bumblebee glanced at each other before at the others.

"Not only that, but Orion here has been the one with the plan ever since we've got here. And has had the honor of being under the tutelage of a Prime himself. And that very same Prime put that Matrix in his servo."

"Oh whoopie-doo. I guess that all but proves he's meant to be the next Prime. Like say if Kasey here was there and was given the Matrix, obviously _she's_ meant to be the next Prime." Straightedge said in a sarcastic manner.

Kasey had an extremely offended expression before she motioned for Bumblebee to put her down. In which he did, and she left the warehouse without a word.

"That was uncalled for, Straightedge." Bumblebee let out a few angry beeps, arms crossed.

"Bumblebee has a point, that was uncalled for." Shadowblitz hissed at Straightedge, "As far as I recall, we woke you up from stasis. And you've been acting like a bickering sparkling." She growled, her mask sliding down and clamping on.

"I was the closest one to death on the fraggin planet! Name a time any of _you_ got trampled on, fell through the crumbling planet and had to crawl his damaged aft back to the fraggin surface! Huh!? Did any of you fools do that?!" Straightedge exclaimed, then his optics turn red suddenly.

"And when is the last time you watched your comrades die in front of you?! Watching their sparks be crushed by a Seeker and being able to feel everything?!" Shadowblitz spat at Straightedge before she stormed out of the warehouse, transforming and speeding off without another word.

"Both of you, enough!" Ratchet growled, before noticing Shadowblitz left. He shook his helm, "We best leave her be.."

"Do whatever you want with the Matrix..." Straightedge also transformed and sped off.

Orion shook his head, clearly upset at this whole ordeal. "We just need some time to think. We can put this off another time."

"I'll go and try to calm them down, Orion. I'll bring them back." Grandcloud turned and walked out the warehouse, then transformed and took flight in Straightedge's direction.

"That may be best, Orion. Perhaps waiting until we have fully adapted to the change would have been better." Ratchet advised him, sighing and looking at Bumblebee. "Bumblebee. Can you find where Kasey went? I noticed she's gone."

"Right away, Ratchet." Bumblebee beeped and headed out to find Kasey.

Orion continued to look at the Matrix a little longer before setting it down and turning towards Ratchet. "So is the creation of a forge doable, Ratchet?"

"Easily with the information of a volcano." Ratchet nodded, before he looked towards the entrance of the warehouse. "Perhaps you should speak to Shadowblitz, maybe you know more about her than you seem from relaying intel to the lines."

"I should... I'll be back, Ratchet. You do what you can while I'm gone." Orion turned away and transformed. He drove away from the warehouse, looking for any kind of trail that Shadowblitz had left.

Ratchet began on the forge, quiet while Bumblebee returned with Kasey. The mech set down the small human female and began to work on helping the elder medic.

Shadowblitz had drove off into the woods, as left by her obvious cloud of dust. Seemingly easy and away from sight.

Orion followed the trail of dust clouds, trying to keep from losing track of Shadowblitz the best he could. Since the wind was mildly blowing through the landscape.

Shadowblitz didn't go far, just over the hill and settled down on a spot overlooking a lake. She was in her bipedal form, arms hugging her legs close as she stared down at the water.

Orion slowed down his speed as he could see the curled-up figure of Shadowblitz. He came to a halt, transformed, then proceeded to walk towards her. "Shadowblitz...I know you're not alright and I know you want to be alone. To be with your own emotions and thoughts." Orion sat down next to her with his legs crossed. "But I wanted to say I'm sorry about your comrades."

Shadowblitz was quiet for a few moments before her mask slid back and she sighed. "It's okay Orion... I shouldn't have blown up back there." She shook her helm and glanced to him. "Honestly, if my comrades weren't offlined before I left Cybertron, they would have liked you."

Orion gave her a small, warm smile. "Flattering. But I'm nothing special. Many like me were on Cybertron." Orion looked up into the evening sky. "Many were greater than I..." He said quietly.

"I highly doubt that." Shadowblitz chuckled as he looked away, looking back down to the lake herself. "I know for a fact that Jetflare would have loved an intellectual conversation with you. Moonguard would have been pleased to meet anyone under a Prime, and Sunbreaker just would have been the hard head."

Orion gave a small chuckle in return but it soon faded away. "Shadowblitz...I'll be honest with you. I'm very much afraid for us. Never have I've seen or heard such great odds stacked against us. We are only so few and our resources are finite. Only someone like a Prime could find a solution...But I am no Prime...Nor am I worthy of it...Deep down in my spark, I know Straightedge is right...We _need_ a fighter, not just a leader. I was surprised you all thought so highly of me even with us just recently knowing each other by name. And as honored as I am, I fear the possibility of failure...For you and for all of them..." Orion looked into the water as he was followed by silence.

"Orion." Shadowblitz sighed and gently set one of her servos on his shoulder. "I wasn't always battle ready." She admitted, "Before the war I was a simple medic, nothing more. It took me one battle, to switch who I was. In my spark, I feel like you can lead us, you did save me from becoming spare parts with Genesis." She reminded him as she looked up to the sky, "You have yet to witness your first actual battle, yes, but you know what we fought for and who we did it for... I'm sure as much as I could combine with my battalion into Lunarstreaker, that you can lead us."

Orion looked over to Shadowblitz then put his servo on her's and grip[ed it firmly. He nodded slowly at her, gratitude filling his optics. "Shadowblitz... I swear to you and everyone else. I will strive to lead us to victory and to home. This I swear."

Shadowblitz gave Orion a warm smile and nodded, before moving her servo off his shoulder. "Then I believe you are more than worthy for the Matrix." She pushed herself into a standing position, strange-colored green optic staring out towards the lake once more.

Orion stood to his pedes as well and looked into the lake with her. "Our future will be as clear and has vast as this. I promise. But we must make that stride together. Are you with me, Shadowblitz?" He asked as he turned to her and put his servo out of a handshake

Shadowblitz turned to him and clasped her servo to his, "I have been ever since you pulled me into the pod." She nodded at him with a brief smile before looking back the way they came.

Orion looked that way and quickly transformed. He lead the way back where they had come, easily through the darkened trees.

Shadowblitz followed after him, transforming and kicking up dust as she shifted to speed next to him.

Straightedge was speeding down a single road dividing the forest. Grandcloud was above him, giving chase. The trees soon disappeared and there is nothing more than a large expanse of gravel and patches of grass, leading to more hills ahead. Grandcloud took advantage of the huge space and landed in front of Straightedge's path. Straightedge swerved out the way and around Grandcloud. Grandcloud moved quickly and grabbed the tail-wing.

"Heyheyhey, servos of the wing!" Straightedge transformed and broke away from Grandcloud's grip. "The wing looks good on me, ya' know." Straightedge took a few paces away from Grandcloud.

"Straightedge, please. You're simply angry."

"Straight ain't home!" Straightedge spoke with a rather fierce tone.

"Straightedge-"

"Ay!" Straightedge turned around and stomped up to Grandcloud "I told you! Straight. Ain't. Home. Do you who is though? Jack."

"Jack?...What happened to Straightedge then?"

"He bellowed out." Jack turned away from Grandcloud and walked a small distance from him "He hates feelin' anything that don't give 'em joy."

"Sooo, you're him when he's angry?" Grandcloud asked, a bit confused.

"Yea, you can say that." He looked off at the hills before him.

"Well, I've been told anger stems from many places. This anger here, stems from fear."

Jack turned to look at Grandcloud.

"I know you're afraid of dying. Almost like you did back on Cybertron. When you were telling us who you were, you said that you had "resigned yourself to fate" as you called it. But you still feared dying. Even at that moment where that may have been the case."

Jack turned back around "No."

"No?" Grandcloud thought for a quick second "...Oh. You're not afraid of dying. You're afraid of dying alone."

"...You guessed it..." Jack looked up into the clear blue sky. "My family are so far, ya know? Back on that breaking planet and they're the closest people I got. I mean sure, I'll probably die along with you guys cause the Decepticons are no doubt gonna smoke us, bu let's be honest, I don't know you guys like that. I'd just be dying next to some random strangers I just know by name and not _them_ , you know."

"Yes, I understand. But that's all the more reason to fight. Whether they live or not, you won't be alone when your time comes. That's if we succeed in this mission."

Jack nodded his head in agreement before his optics turned back to white original color. He turned back to Grandcloud. "Then there's no need for me to bellow. Not when we have a chance to save our race. Let's go." Straightedge walked past Grandcloud and transformed. He sped off back the direction he came.

Grandcloud transformed and blasted off after him.

Shadowblitz walked into the warehouse, where Bumblebee was helping Ratchet with the forge.

"Good to see you're back, mind helping?" Bumblebee beeped out before the femme walked over to assist in any way she could.

"Shadowblitz, get me more of those wires." Ratchet instructed the femme who nodded quickly and gathered a few more wires.

Orion walked into the warehouse. "Is it all well, Ratchet?"

"It is going well so far, the basic structure is made. But yet to be able to find a better way to make it run swiftly and easily." Ratchet replied as he continued to work on the forge, shaking his helm a bit.

Kasey was working on the laptop, sitting in a corner and uploading things onto a hard drive.

Straightedge came into the warehouse and transformed into his bipedal mode. Everyone steal glances towards him. Grandcloud reverted to his alt. mode before entering the warehouse. He ducked his helm before entering, but he was suddenly stopped. He looked to his side and saw that his wings were too long to get him through the warehouse. Grandcloud grunted slightly in frustration.

"Hey, uh, everyone. I just wanna say, I apologize for my behavior and everything. I was speaking because, I'm just...Afraid, you know. I bet a lot of us are, but that doesn't mean we lose our minds over it." Straightedge felt something poke him in his Hexa-Lateral Scapula. He looked behind him to see Grandcloud entering side-ways while still ducking, his wing poking him. "Hey mech, Do you mind? I'm tryin' to apologize here..."

"Then how about you move..." Grandcloud grumbled in a low tone.

Shadowblitz shook her helm a bit, "Don't worry about apologizing Straight, mind giving me a servo?" She asked as she continued to help Ratchet, before she glanced at the other mech. "You and I can travel towards the volcano and check it out." She offered.

"That would be good. Able to see what we're dealing with." Ratchet added on as he continued on the forge.

"Be careful though. We still don't want the run the risk of discovery. And if that volcano is as dangerous as it sounds, you'll want to keep from doing anything that might trigger it." Orion warned.

"We'll be careful." Shadowblitz assured as she glanced over at Orion, nodding at her head. Her gaze turned back to Straightedge, "I can take Bumblebee if you don't want to go."

"Oh no, I'll go to the dangerous death mountain." He looked down at Kasey with a smile. "I guess we all are little crazy, huh?" He bent down and pat her on the head with a finger.

Kasey glanced up and grinned, "Guess so." She pat his finger before continuing her work.

Shadowblitz let a small smile slip up before she made her way past Grandcloud. She chuckled a bit at the fact that he was nearly too big to fit.

Grandcloud pouted at his misfortune. Straightedge followed Shadowblitz out of the warehouse. "Ha!" Obviously not before expressing his amusement at Grandcloud's struggle.

Shadowblitz glanced back at Grandcloud as she and Straightedge walked away. "Should we help him?" She chuckled a bit.

"Pffft! Of Course not! He's already halfway in anyway. So, let's get that forge working so we can get some weapooons! Yea!" Straightedge transformed in his alt. mode and drove off.

Shadowblitz transformed and sped after him, "Think he will ever be small enough to fit?" She chuckled a bit and drove after him.

"OFCOURSE NOT! HAHAHAHAHA!" Straightedge hysterically laughed as they drive towards the volcano.

"Hey Straight, Sorry about blowin' up. I was reminded of the people I could combine with." Shadowblitz apologized as she sped up next to him, chuckling.

"Sorry I sparked that memory. We all have someone we miss back home. And what more can we do for them other than find and preserve the Allspark?"

"I don't have anyone back home, that's the thing. I lost everyone. Starscream ripped out their sparks in front of me, and I could do nothing to stop their deaths."

"Whoa, you ran into Starscream too? That mech is a straight savage! I oughta know, I've seen him fight before. How did you survive that encounter?"

"I beat his aft into a pulp and my optic was damaged in the fight by his cohorts, Thundercracker and Skywarp. My comrades and I could combine into something called Lunarstreaker, a large and fire-breathing dragon."

"Ooooh snap...You mean just like the knights?"

"I suppose you could say like the knights... man, we were powerful beyond measure. We could take down a squadron of Seekers just by fire alone... I miss those days.."

"Eh, don't put yourself down over that. I knew many a soldier that fell at the servos of old Screamer."

"We shared a bond that could only be broken by slaughter, Straightedge. I felt their deaths like an unmeasurable amount of pain... Hell, Blastbreaker got angry that I let them fall..."

"Then Aftbreaker should try to solo Starscream himself and see how well he does. But like I said, you friends live, Shadow. Not on Cybertron, but in the Allspark. Where there is no wars and where cant get hurt. Not unless we keep the Decepticons from getting it first."

"Heh, true, Straight. Man, you would've liked Sunbreaker. She would have been rather rude at first, but that's just her... We need to find this damn volcano's top."

"If there's no path to the top the we'll just have to climb the rest of the way up."

"That's true. Get to experience something new every cycle on this planet."

"And it's only one location. I wonder what the rest of it is like."

"I guess we just have to wait and see. Honestly, if we find the whereabouts of the Allspark, I don't want to leave Kasey alone. I mean, she's helped us out this far."

"I see what you're getting at but, this fight is ours. Not hers. She could be hurt coming along with us."

"Anyone is hurt coming along with us. Who knows if the Decepticons already know about the humans... Genesis was here, and I haven't seen her since. It gives me an unsettling feelings in my tanks."

"All the more reason to keep as much distance between us and her. For her sake. Hold on, I think this way is getting steeper." The two had driven far enough from the forest and they could also notice that the way they're going is indeed getting more and more steeper.

"Alright, I guess it's time to go normal instead of driving. My wheels are starting to slip." Shadowblitz glanced briefly around before she transformed, her bipedal form standing quietly. She was glad she was silent and able to deal with inclines, due to her past on Cybertron.

Straightedge transformed into his bipedal mode as well, but upon doing so, tripped over. "Aaaah!"

Shadowblitz quickly wrapped her arms around him to keep him from hitting the ground, she grunting a bit. "Damn, you mechs need to learn balance."

Straightedge struggled a bit but he managed slightly, "Yea sure, we'll get on that." Straightedge rolled his optics a bit.

Shadowblitz gave him a soft shrug before she made sure he was standing and unwrapped her arms from around him. "Or at least make sure you're balanced on steep inclines." She began the way up again.

Straightedge followed behind her, occasionally having to crawl up on all fours.

Shadowblitz didn't seem to have as much trouble as him, except when she slipped a bit. She dug her claw-like fingers into the stone to keep herself from falling and continued the way up the mountain.

"How much closer to the fraggin volcano, Shadow?" Straightedge asked, falling behind a little.

"I don't know- oh look, I think we're here." Shadowblitz had began before pausing and continuing, climbing over a ledge and holding a servo out to help him up. "High up and out of sight."

Straightedge took her servo and allowed her to pull him up. "You'd think with me climbing out of the Underworld itself being mildly damaged that I'd be good at this."

"Different places." Shadowblitz chuckled as she pulled him up over the ledge and to stand with her near it. A dome shape was surrounded by a crater, snow dusting the somewhat dormant volcano.

Straightedge looked down into the crater, "Ok...So how do you want to do this?"

"I'll jump in." Shadowblitz shrugged, before she looked down into the crater herself. She flipped the fiberglass cover over her damaged optic, before grabbing onto the edge of the crater and dropping down.

"Wait, what were we supposed to be doing again?" Straightedge asked as she descended into the depths of the beast.

"Seeing if this thing is active, first off. And to make sure it doesn't blow up in our faces." Shadowblitz chuckled before she clamped her mask down, looking around a bit.

"Ok. Then what? Were we supposed to bring a wire or something?"

"I don't know. I don't think Ratchet or I got that far in a plan."

Straightedge nodded slowly in slight confusion, "Okaaaay...Well, be careful! Don't want you to melt yourself on accident down there. Don't wanna be down a fighter we need."

"I've dealt with the sea of rust and battery acid on Cybertron, I'm sure molten rock is nothing worse." Shadowblitz kneeled down on a hot stone, letting out a bit of a hiss. She broke off one of her warped pieces of metal, despite it being rather painful and dropped it down into the molten stone below. Watching, it only took mere moments for the metal to melt before she realized she was slipping forward. She scrambled back and hopped up, grabbing onto the edge of the crater.

Straightedge grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "Good hustle there. Shadow."

Shadowblitz managed to get to her pedes with ease and stood next to him, "Thanks for pulling me up, Straight." She split her mask and looked down at the molten stone, narrowing her optics a bit. "That should be hot enough to use, it melted my warped steel within nanoclicks."

"So we came up here to test the heat of this thing?"

"I did. Now just to figure out how to get it from here to the forge."

"Maybe Kasey might know? Cause I sure don't." Straightedge looked back down into the smoking crater.

"Hopefully we can think of something. Let's head back, this heat is making my vents overwork themselves." Shadowblitz shook her helm a bit.

"Alrighty then. Hopefully by the time we get back,Cloud would've gotten himself in the warehouse by now. Haha!" Straightedge transformed into his alt. mode and began to drive back down the side of the mountain, "Whooooohoooo!"

Shadowblitz transformed and raced after him, "Straight! Get back her you aft!" She laughed.

"What for? I thought we accomplished the mission!" Straightedge jokingly responded with a hidden grin.

Back at the warehouse, Kasey was sitting in Orion's servo as he and Grandcloud were looking at the laptop with Kasey. "So those are your guns, am I correct?" Orion asked.

Kasey nodded as she continued to show them the weapons. "Yes. Most dangerous weapons amongst my kind besides tanks, missiles, and nuclear weapons." She explained, looking at Orion and Grandcloud.

"They don't look too complex in comparison to our own weaponry back on Cybertron. And if they can do as much damage as you say, they'll be the perfect alternative for us to fight off the Decepticons." Grandcloud stated.

Kasey nodded before she pulled up her hair into a ponytail, fixing her glasses. "Simple and easy to make, supposedly."

"Yes. All the materials needed to create the ammunition is here. We just need to gather it and mold it. Now we just need to build schematics to and outfit ourselves with these weapons. It'll also help if we take a look at the hand-held weapons as well." Orion spoke, looking to Kasey and her laptop once more.

Kasey nodded at him and quickly began typing on her laptop for a moment, bringing up pictures of the weapons he spoke of. "Here, something simple and easy. The different blades, what we call brass-knuckles, and such."

"Hmmmm." Orion held his chin with his other servo curiously.

Just then, Straightedge came racing into the warehouse and reverted to his bipedal mode. "What's good, losers?" He asked with smile. He looked to Grandcloud. "Huh, you really did finally got in."

Grandcloud gave him a long stare with a bit of an aggressive remark of, "We're just looking at the type of hand-held weapons the humans use..."

"Oh yea? Let me see right quick." He went over and was literally pushing and moving Grandcloud out the way to see the laptop.

"And 'Excuse Me'. Would've been nice." Grandcloud stated, clearly annoyed as he gets up.

"Yea, it would've, wouldn't it?" Straightedge retorted, looking back at Grandcloud before looking back at the laptop.

Kasey huffed a bit at when Straightedge pushed Grandcloud around, before turned her laptop away from Straightedge. "I do have to agree, Straightedge." She added on, before she turned the laptop back.

Shadowblitz transformed and walked in, making her way around Grandcloud and Straightedge. "Hey, good news. The forge will be easy to operate once we manage to get the molten magma down to here."

"Good work, you two. I was just saying we should get some schematics laid out so we can outfit ourselves with the weapons needed to defend ourselves." Orion restated.

"Sounds good, we can get a start on those and easily begin to try to manipulate the magma flow down to here." Shadowblitz nodded with a bit of a smile.

"Hopefully. Without burning ourselves." Straightedge said as he continued to try and look at the laptop from different angles.

"I'll happily take slagged metal to get weapons." Shadowblitz chuckled a bit, glancing at Straightedge as the fiberglass cover left from her optic.

"Not by yourself you won't." Grandcloud put a servo on her shoulder-guard. "We'll do so together to increase our chances of success."

Shadowblitz glanced at Grandcloud, "Sounds good, Grandcloud. We should, however, recharge for the night. I know for a fact my processor is beginning to get foggy." She suppressed a yawn and shook her helm a bit. "That climb did me in." Her helm shook again before she shifted around Grandcloud and the other mechs to go outside.

"Shadowblitz has a point. Even it's getting late for me." Kasey looked at the time on her laptop before looking back towards Orion.

"Alright. We've accomplished quite a lot today. Tomorrow we'll scrap whatever is left of our pod, draw out schematics, then proceed to get this forge functional." Orion stated, looking to everyone.

Shadowblitz transformed and relaxed next to the warehouse in her motorcycle for, letting her recharge take her quickly and she easily fell unconscious.

"Mind putting me down?" Kasey chuckled at Orion, closing her laptop.

"Oh. My apologies." Orion set his servo down to let Kasey off.

Kasey got up and hopped off his servo, "I'll see you guys tomorrow morning." With that, she rushed out of the warehouse towards her own little home.

"Let's wind down." Orion transformed into his alt. mode.

"See you losers in the morning." Straightedge transformed into his alt. mode.

"Goodnight." Grandcloud was about to exit the warehouse until his wings stop him again. He sighed then turned his sides, ducked his head, and exited. He transformed and rested next to Shadowblitz, who was already asleep.

"Night." Bumblebee beeped as he transformed into his alt mode.

"Good night." Ratchet stifled a yawn and transformed into his alt mode.

—  
The troopers trekking across the white, dusty surface of the Earth's moon. Looking and observing the terrain and the surroundings

Starscream growled softly as he trekked across the dusty surface, digging his pede into the stone. This was pointless, nothing was around. Nothing worth interest at least.

He kept trekking, until he suddenly found himself sliding down into a decent sized crater. The troops saw this and immediately look down to see if he's alright.

He did end up yelping but slid down and grunted a bit. "Blasted rock." He slammed his pede into the stone with frustration, finding the craters rather idiotic.

A crack of light shined through the stone in the center as he kicked it, the ray of light shining into Starscream's optic.

Starscream hissed and covered his optic, they narrowing a bit. "Light... how peculiar..." he growled as he got closer to the origin of the light.

A few troopers slid down the crater and surround this shining rock. One picked it up and proceeded to dust it off. Doing so caused the light to shine brighter than before. They were able to make out a small glimpse of a small, cybernetic figure curled up in a pristine crystal. "Sir...Could this be...?"

"I am unsure. But Lord Megatron would be most pleased to see if it is." Starscream dimmed his optics to see better before smirking lightly. "I believe we have done enough searching for now in this sector. Maybe the other troops have had more luck."

—  
Elsewhere, Berserk was leading his own troopers. They were in a large, white expanse. "Have any of you detected anything abnormal yet?" He growled angrily.

"Yes sir. I'm picking up a reading. A small one 36 clicks away. Straightforward." One troop member answered.

Berserk didn't waste anymore time and made a mad dash towards that direction until he, too, fell down a crater but landed in the center. There is a rock in the middle. Berserk scooped it up and turned to his just arriving troops. "What is this?"

"It's the re-."

"Do you think this is _FUNNY_!?" Berserk demanded as he showed them the stone.

Some of the troops stepped back in surprise from the sudden outburst.

"N-no sir. That's the reading I've picked up. Maybe something inside the rock."

Berserk grumbled angrily as he hit the rock, only to be blinded by a a ray of light shining through a crack. Berserk continued to uncover this rock until it revealed a crystal with a small cybernetic figure inside. Berserk vented slowly and eagerly.

"What is it, sir?"

"None of your business what it is!" Berserk snapped, "All you need to know, is it now belongs to Lord Megatron."

"Berserk, report. Any useful findings or just more moon dust?" Starscream's voice broke over his comms, the second in command taking the crystal from his trooper. He climbed back up the crater and observed the crystal a bit more curiously.

"Yes. I have indeed. Something _veerrry_ useful." Berserk growled ominously as he took a closer look at the being inside the crystal.

"I believe we best return to Lord Megatron and report our finds. I do think he'll be _extremely_ pleased." Starscream chuckled darkly before he motioned for his troops to head back to the Nemesis, he taking the lead with the crystal in servos.

"Let us return to the ship." Berserk commanded as he jumped out the crater and lead them back where they came.

Megatron was sitting on his throne in a deep state of thought. Still trying to figure out this puzzle behind this planet. Something about it perplexed him, something about this planet fascinated him only slightly. Like a presence lingered on it. But what could it be. He couldn't be paranoid. Why would he? He'd never seen nor heard of this planet before, yet something about it still was setting off alarms in his head.

After several long cycles, Starscream strolled into the command center with the crystal behind his back. "My liege, I believe we have found something that you may wish to see." He spoke rather proudly, smirking a bit and keeping the object hidden as best he could.

Megatron opened his optics. "Have you now, Starscream? What is it that you have found while exploring this rock?" Megatron asked gruffly.

Starscream moved the crystal with the being inside of it out from behind him. "This, my lord." He moved to where he could better be seen, continuing to hold onto the crystal.

Megatron's optics widened. He rose from his throne and walked to the crystal. He stretched out his claws, hesitant and first but ultimately took it and brought it closer to his face. "By the Allspark...Could it be..?" Megatron took a closer look to see a small cybernetic figure encased inside. "It is! It has to be! One of the lost super weapons of Cybertron!" He held it in the air triumphantly. "You have done an amazing service here for the Decepticons, Starscream. You have my favor."

"I only live to please, Lord Megatron." Starscream bowed at his leader with a soft nod of his head. "I will continue searching this rock, that was hidden in a large crater not too far from here. I don't doubt that there is many here." He said rather anxiously, knowing that these could indeed be an advantage to finding the Allspark.

Just then, Berserk presented himself. "My lord. I have found an object you will find most pleasing." Berserk knelt before him and presented another crystal to him.

Megtron took the crystal in his other clawed servo. "Two of them..." Megatron said with quiet excitement. "You both have pleased me beyond measure today." He gave a wide grin, "Soon we'll be a force of nature to be reckoned with! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!" Megatron cackled as the reckoning of the galaxy will come sooner than it believed.


	3. Chapter 3: The Charge is Taken

Chapter Three: The Charge is Taken

Shadowblitz had awakened rather abruptly from her recharge and rested next to the warehouse, well... more near the woods than the warehouse. Her optics shifted and dimmed when the morning sun rose over the mountains, fog having drifted in earlier before the morning. She gritted her dentas together as she turned away from the sun, her wolf-like audio receptors parking at a noise in the woods. Shifting onto her pedas, Shadowblitz pushed her way into the woods, moving past several fallen trees.

Bumblebee let out a tired beep as he awoke from recharge, his optics spiraling open and powering online. He shifted a bit and transformed, sitting in his bipedal mode as he waited for the others to awaken.

The two could hear an engine reving up every couple of seconds.

Grandcloud had positioned himself on the warhouse as his alt. mode was too big to be on ground level. He grumbled as that engine noise was irritating him.

"Hey! Who's revving their engine?!" Bumblebee let out an angry beep, looking around at the others. Surely wasn't Ratchet, he was passed the hell out and slumping on his tires a bit.

Shadowblitz glanced towards where she had resided previously, transforming back into her alternative mode and nimbly moving back to the warehouse.

Once she entered, she could see lights blinking on and of in tandem with the engine. The lights and the noise were obviously coming from Straightedge.

"... You have got to be kidding me." Shadowblitz groaned as she transformed, and walked over to Straightedge. She smacked her fist on his hood, "Hey Straight!"

"Oh thank Primus.." Bumblebee groaned and leaned back into the warehouse a bit.

Straightedge transformed into his bipedal mode. "Decepticons! They're here!" He flailed his servos about in panic.

Straightedge managed to hit Shadowblitz with one of his servos and that made her tense up.

"Oh slag, uh... Orion..." Bumblebee noticed Shadowblitz tense up and smacked the top of Orion's hood, hopefully not waking him. He pointed at Shadowblitz, who simply turned to glare at Straightedge.

Orion transformed into his alt. mode, somehow being able to sleep soundly despite the noise. He looked to see Straightedge looking frantic and Shadowblitz looking unusually tense. He rubbed an optic with one of his digits. "What's going on?" He asks groggily.

Shadowblitz stepped closer and let an animalistic growl rumble out of her throat and chest, her optic shifting into a smaller pupil.

Bumblebee knew he couldn't talk, so he simply pointed at Shadowblitz and Straightedge again.

"Oh what's with all that racket...?" Ratchet grumbled lowly as he transformed and rubbed his optics a bit.

Orion went up to Straightedge and put a servo on his shoulder, "Straightedge, are you alright? You don't looks so well."

Straightedge looked at Orion, his optics wide. "Orion...? Wh-what's what're you doing here, mech?"

"We're in the warehouse, Straightedge. Cybertron is no more, remember?" Orion asked.

Straightedge's eyes weren't so wide anymore as he took a calm, steady look at everyone in the warehouse. "R-right...Sorry everyone..."

Shadowblitz backed off and left the warehouse with a bit of a grunt. She transformed and went back into the woods.

"You may have triggered something in Shadowblitz, I'm surprised she didn't live up to her call sign as Wolf." Ratchet yawned as he noticed Shadowblitz leave, "We'll all leave her be, this time. I doubt she wants to be bothered, and it is alright. Memories tend to plague processors when it is so soon after that memory."

"I guess..."Straightedge walked out the warehouse, letting his mind recover.

"That's one way to start a cycle." Orion said, his voice clearing up now.

"You're telling me." Bumblebee stretched his cabling before he got up, huffing a bit.

"It is." Ratchet shifted a bit before he got up, "You seemed to be sound asleep when Shadowblitz got hit by Straightedge's flailing around."

"I was...It took me the entire night though. I hope she didn't think too much of it."

"I doubt she did, Orion. She doesn't think much when people rest, she hardly does."

Orion nodded, "I hope she comes back soon. I want to try and get the forge operational by today. We don't know how long the Decepticons will be stuck on this planet's moon for."

"She might. She might not." Ratchet sighed as he got up, "I may send Kasey after her, femme bonding since she is the only femme in our small group of survivors." He shook his helm, stretching a bit.

"She is, isn't she...Then I suppose Kasey wouldn't mind talking to her some while we get started with today."

"I do hope she doesn't mind. Shadowblitz needs someone to talk to, instead of remaining quiet as she has been. Anyways, we just need to find someone to manipulate, from what Shadow said, the magma flow to down here."

"And where does it need to go?"

"To the forge, maintaining a constant heat despite all the moisture in the atmosphere."

"Okay. How does this need to be done then?"

"I am unsure. The forge here will be much different than the ones used on Cybertron. I doubt we can make quite as formidable weapons, but we aren't alone in this battle."

"Then we'll need Grandcloud to best survey that area for us to see the best way to do this. But first things first, we scrap the rest of our pod. Come along, Bumblebee." Orion made his way outside.

Bumblebee perked up and hopped onto his pedes, following after Orion. "Yes sir." His beep sounded cheerful, almost childish in ways.

Kasey was up and awake at this time, gathering a few things and stowing them in a bag. She hopped up with a backpack and peaked out of her house, before walking out quietly

Orion caught sight of Kasey coming out of her house, "Hello Kasey. How are you doing this day?"

"I'm better, though worried after Straightedge's tree flying yesterday." Kasey glanced up to Orion and Bumblebee, who waved at her. She smiled briefly and waved back before continuing out and plopping her feet down on the grass. "And... something weird caused my laptop to glitch last night. I was barely able to scramble down any symbols before it shut down. Got any ideas?"

"Symbols, you say? Are they not of your planet?"

"No. I know what most languages look like from my planet, and it resembled none of them."

"May we see for ourselves, Kasey?"

Kasey nodded and pulled her backpack off, pulling out a notebook. She opened it to the page she last wrote on and held it up as best she could.

Orion saw for himself and his optics widened. The symbols were undoubtedly Cybertronian. "H-how did you know about them?"

"They appeared on my laptop, the device I used to show you guys the humanized weapons we have, before it crashed." Kasey explained before she closed the notebook and stowed it away in her backpack.

"Those symbols are the glyphs of our native language back on Cybertron...How this could've occurred perplexes me. Could it be the Allspark reaching out to us?" Orion asked, though the question was up in the air.

"Very possible." Bumblebee shrugged a bit before looking back at Kasey.

"Could it be another Cybertronian reaching out, like a distress signal? Maybe because they had left Cybertron earlier on?" Kasey asked, tilting her head.

"I highly doubt it, but I'll keep the possibility in my mind. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Kasey."

"You're welcome Orion, I'll keep you posted if more occurs. You two heading out towards the pod?"

"Yes. We must scrap what's left of it and bring it back here before anyone of your fellow humans come across the remains."

"May I join you again? I'm still curious about all of you and your biology. It's interesting to see living machines."

"I suppose. Bumblebee."

Bumblebee quickly perked up and set his servo down for Kasey, the small human jumping onto his servo. He lifted her up and nodded at Orion.

They began to leave and they came across Straightedge, who was sitting down on the ground.

"Are you doing well, Straightedge?" Orion asked.

"Kinda...Sorta...Waking up a little bit more." Straightedge answered as he continued to look into the woods.

Kasey made a bit of a face before she motioned for Bumblebee to put her down in front of Straightedge. "Hey Straightedge! You want to talk for a bit?" She offered.

Straightedge looked down at Kasey, "About what?"

"Anything. It's either that or I'm heading with them again." Kasey shrugged a bit at him.

Straightedge looked into the woods, "My processor is still wracked around the war... Even with it being over via planet degradation, it still lingers. Maybe because I know despite there not being a planet to fight for, the war isn't over."

"Then tell me about yourself, what you did." Kasey offered, sitting down in front of him.

Bumblebee glanced at Orion with a shrug.

Orion shrugged back.

Straightedge gave Kasey a confused look, "Didn't I already tell you yesterday with the whole 'I am such and such and this was who I am' and what not?"

"Yes. But humans have poor memory. Especially after the occurrence last night with my laptop." Kasey grinned sheepishly at Straightedge.

Bumblebee shook his head a bit.

"The laptop you wouldn't let me see." Straightedge pouted and looked away from her.

"The laptop that all of a sudden acted up and showed Cybertronian symbols." Kasey crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

Straightedge looked back to her, ultimately surprised. "It did? Why?"

"We do not know as of yet. It maybe the Allspark or...Another survivor." Orion answered.

"Pffffft, Impossible. Didn't you say we were the only ones to have made it off the planet?"

"We were the only ones as far as I knew. I'm not aware of anyone else made it off of Cybertron."

"So I could have a plausible theory." Kasey grinned before she heard faint buzzing from her backpack. Raising an eyebrow, she took it off her back and began to search for the source of it.

Straightedge and Orion moved in closer to see for themselves.

Kasey pulled out her laptop again and set it down, "... The fact I brought it up and then it did this worries me."

Straightedge squinted his optics as he looked at the symbols, "I don't remember our language being that jacked up."

"All we know is that this means something. We must decipher it as it may aid us in our situation." Orion stated.

Kasey rolled her eyes a bit before she grabbed out her notebook again, beginning to scramble to scribble down the symbols before it shut down again.

"Straightedge, we need to get the hot substance of this planet to flow to the forge."

"Okaaaay...How do you expect me to do that without melting myself?"

"Maybe I can be of assistance again, perhaps moving the forge to the mountain would be simpler? It would cause less trouble, and it would be relatively easily to cool forged metal with the snow and the lake towards the bottom." Kasey brought up.

Orion and Straightedge looked at each other for a second, until Orion glanced at Bumblebee.

Bumblebee shrugged a bit, "I don't know, I was never one for forging weapons." He beeped a bit.

"This would be a lot easier if I could understand him." Kasey shook her head and stowed her things back into her backpack.

"Straightedge, let Ratchet know about Kasey's idea regarding the forge."

"Sure thing, Boss." Straightedge stood and went into the warehouse.

"Kasey, Ratchet also suggested you should go find Shadowblitz and talk to her."

"Me? Talking to the one who looks like she could tear a Cybertronian like you into shreds? Haha, you're funny." Kasey seemed unconvinced as she slung the backpack back over her shoulder.

Bumblebee shook his helm a bit, before offering his servo to Kasey. She hopped up before crossing her arms a bit, being lifted back up to Bumblebee's shoulder.

Ratchet was awake, or well.. trying to be awake as best he could with hardly getting any recharge.

"Hey there, Ratchet. Uuuuh... Kasey suggested instead of trying to get some hot stuff to come to us. _We_ take the forge to the hot stuff. What do you think?"

"Alright then I guess that'll leave us to to take all the parts we've gathered and take it up to the volcano."

"I suppose so. What about Orion and Bumblebee, where are they heading?"

"To scrap what's left of the pod. I think they'll be taking what's left up to the volcano as well."

"Alright. You and I should be able to get this to the volcano on our own. Shadowblitz and Kasey, I assume they're talking?"

"No not right now, though I think Orion is trying to convince her now."

"Alright. Hopefully those two talking will give some sort of balance between them."

"Kasey, Shadowblitz hasn't hurt a living organism since we've crashed. Despite her scared features, you have nothing to fear from her. Unless you're a Decepticon." Orion gave her a small, reassuring smile.

"I still don't want to. She's, surprisingly, more terrifying than the rest of you to me." Kasey pouted a bit with crossed arms.

"She's probably the last femme of our kind. And she's hurt by this and what happened on Cybertron. She needs someone to talk to and who better than a fellow femme like yourself?"

"True, and she isn't the last one. There was that Genesis chick to that had dented Shadowblitz... but fine. Just because I'm doing this doesn't mean I want to."

"Understood. Thank you again, Kasey." Orion nodded in gratitude.

Kasey muttered a you're welcome before sighing. "Where is she anyways?"

"She drove off into the woods. If you need, Bumblebee can assist you in locating her."

"Alright." Kasey looked to Bumblebee who set her down. He transformed, opening the door for Kasey before she stepped in and they drove off.

Orion looked to Grandcloud, who was still on top of the warehouse in his alt. mode, "Grandcloud, come with me so we may scrap what's left of our pod."

Grandcloud reverted to his bipedal mode and jumped off the warehouse, "Alright. And we take it to the volcano, yes?"

"Yes." Orion confirmed.

Grandcloud nodded. The two transform into their alt. modes and mobilize.  
—

Bumblebee slowly halted and let Kasey out, before he sped off back towards the other mechs. The human was a bit terrified of the gigantic femme compared to her height, but she simply cleared her throat. It earned her a sharp glance, but that didn't stop Kasey. "Shadowblitz, I know you're upset but-"

"Don't but, saying but always means there's a negative." The green optics of the Cybertronian narrowed before softening and she slumped into a sitting position on the ground. "I know I should've done something other than rush off, but that got my helm whirling fast."

"Things happen, getting upset is normal for a human-"

"I'm not a human, Kasey."

"If you'd let me finish... It's normal for my species to get upset." Kasey grumbled a bit when she was interrupted, glaring softly at the larger lifeform. "It may not be for yours, but it's a relative concept amongst any species. Sentient or non sentient."

"Says the human that just happened to stumble across us." Shadowblitz growled a bit before Kasey made her way to standing in front of the other female.

"I saved your asses, learn to be grateful." Kasey shook her head and crossed her arms, "I just want to be friends, Shadowblitz. To learn more of your kind besides their basic biometry, and circuits. You're all interesting and unique-"

"As was most bots. I don't see why we had to crash on your planet-"

"Be glad you did, and wherever this Allspark is, you will find it and remake your home. That's all I want to help do, alright?" Kasey uncrossed her arms, looking up at the femme who had a soft glare.

"You humans shock me with how much compassion you have, you nearly combat Aiur with your own." Shadowblitz offered a servo for Kasey to hop on, which she did, before she lifted her up. "I'll tell you what I can, and we can go to the volcano. Sound alright?"

"Sounds completely fair." Kasey nodded before Shadowblitz set her down and transformed, Kasey hopping onto her back. Shadowblitz drove towards the volcano, quietly talking with Kasey to hopefully keep her attention off what she was picking up on her radar. A large inbound object, and it was moving fast.  
-

Straightedge followed as they manually carried their acquired parts up the path to the volcano.

"I sure wish we had enough trunk space for this..." Straightedge complained as he carried some scraps and wires.

"Sadly not. But such is such with the disguises we chose." Ratchet shook his helm a bit as he carried one of the larger pieces.

"Hopefully this'll be a one time deal. Build the forge, gets some weapons, and see where the Allspark landed. All the while fighting some Decepticons doing the same thing."

"Exactly. And hopefully be off this planet before the war spreads to it. It wouldn't be worth dragging another planet into it."

"Yea...That would be tragic..." Straightedge quietly admitted.

"Another race.." Ratchet sighed and shook his helm a bit.

"Well, we let's not let them suffer for our being here. I think we're halfway there though." The two were going up a steep slope of rocks, "Careful. Pretty steep going up."

Ratchet noticed the slope and shifted a bit, heaving himself over a larger boulder. "Seems so, you and Shadowblitz managed to get past all of this?"

"I know right? I was surprised myself when she was doing better than I was. Especially with me crawling out of the Underworld and all."

"She was a combiner, would only make sense with being part of a four-part beast. Despite the actual climb, this isn't too terrible."

"Despite the-AAahhh!" Straightedge fell over, "Occasional slips!" He struggled to get to his feet.

Ratchet set down his heavier load, balancing it between a rock and his servo. He offered his free one to Straightedge, "Come on, up with you."

Straightedge took Ratchet's servo and let him help him up to his pedes. "Thanks..."

Ratchet made sure he was standing before he let go, picking up the heavier piece of the forge. "No need to thank me."

"Fraggin' physics have been messin' with me all the while we've been here." Straightedge continued up the slope with his load still in hand.

"I know what you mean.. This planet's time is so much different." Ratchet continued upward, huffing a bit since it was getting steeper.

"Hang in there, medic. We're just about there to the ledge of this fraggin' thing." Straightedge assured.

"Ledge?" Ratchet glanced back at Straightedge.

"Yea ledge. You know, to the top? It's like a bowl, you know?"

"Strange, I need to learn more about the geography of this planet so it doesn't continue to mess with our systems."

The two finally made to the edge of the volcano. There, they could see Orion already trying to separate the parts.

"Wow Pax, you work fast." Straightedge complimented.

Orion turned to them, "Ah, you've arrived." He went over to the ledge to be able to help them with their loads. "Getting up here wasn't too difficult, was it?"

"As difficult as it was yesterday." Straightedge stated.

Ratchet rolled his optics a bit before setting his load over the edge. He grabbed onto the ledge, and pulled himself up with Orion's help.

"I took the liberty of trying to separate the parts for easier arrangement. I sent Grandcloud to gather the rest of the parts."

"Good, I have a feeling that-" Ratchet was interrupted by Shadowblitz flinging herself over the opposite side's edge, landing safely. "That Shadowblitz would be here soon enough.."

Orion looked over to her, "Then it looks like Kasey was successful." He gave Shadowblitz a wave.

Shadowblitz glanced up and waved back, Kasey sitting on the femme's shoulder.

"Seems so, good to know that we always have someone to talk to her when we get busy." Ratchet huffed before picking up his load, bringing it away from the edge.

"So, where do we go from here?" Straightedge inquired as he set his load down.

Ratchet glanced to Shadowblitz, who simply shrugged. That's when Kasey perked up and was set down from Shadowblitz's shoulder.

"Easy, connect wires to the forge and the volcano's caldera. Magma flow is constant, so a heat should be maintainable." Kasey perked up, earning a soft grunt from Ratchet.

"I knew that." The older mech grumbled a bit as he shook his helm.

"You didn't even know what 'ledge' was...No need to try to save your pride, there isn't much _to_ save anyway. So, who wants to risk their lives today?" Straightedge asked, looking at his fellow survivors.

Just then, Grandcloud dropped down on the edge of the volcano with the rest of everyone else, thanks to his boosters aiding him with the trek up. He dropped his load with the rest of the parts. "There we are everyone. The last of our escape pod."

"Excellent! Grandcloud, we thank you for your noble sacrifice." Straightedge went and shook Grandcloud's servo.

Grandcloud was confused, "What?"

"Straightedge." Ratchet said lowly, raising an optic ridge in curiosity. Different personalities, strange.

Shadowblitz carefully lifted Kasey back onto her shoulder, "I could go back down there. If someone doesn't mind keeping a hold on Kasey." The femme huffed softly as her mask clamped down, the fiberglass cover making its way to cover her optic once more.

"I can hold her, if she doesn't mind the height." Grandcloud gave a small smile.

"But-but, the sacrifice..." Straightedge pointed to Grandcloud, looking a bit saddened.

Grandcloud simply glared at Straightedge.

Shadowblitz held Kasey out to Grandcloud. "Take her then, I'm shocked my plating is able to withstand this heat." She chuckled with a soft shrug of her shoulders.

Kasey shifted on Shadowblitz's shoulder, giving Straightedge an odd glance.

Grandcloud took Kasey into his servo."Be careful down there, Shadowblitz. We don't want to be without our greatest asset." Grandcloud lightly joked.

Shadowblitz rolled her optics before dropping down over the edge of the caldera, heading into the abyss below.

Kasey smiled slightly, curious as to what would happen.

Everyone looked down into the volcano as Shadowblitz vanished from view.

You could hear the femme growl a bit and hiss, along with faint remarks of "ow, hot. Very hot." The femme held one of her servos up for wires, climbing up and leaning on the edge. Ratchet quickly handed her wires, before she vanished again.

"So...How much longer do you guys think it'll take before she melts?" Straightedge asked.

"Why do have little faith in our comrade?" Grandcloud grumbled a bit.

"No, im looking at this logically. We ain't exactly immune to this type of thing. If she takes her sweet time, it won't be long before she's done for." Straightedge stated.

"You have to have more faith in me, Straight!" Shadowblitz yelled from the hole, before she yelped and patted down burning plating. She jumped up, grabbing onto the edge, "Little help!"

Orion and Grandcloud went to help Shadowblitz up to the edge.

"Excellent work, Shadowblitz." Orion congratulated.

"Indeed. Thanks to you, we'll have a fighting chance against the Decepticons." Grandcloud agreed.

"Thanks to all of our efforts." Shadowblitz correctly Grandcloud as her mask split and she shrugged, before she looked down at her side. Lovely, slagged metal plating. She shook her helm a bit before looking back at the two mechs.

Kasey chuckled a bit, smiling. Maybe this bunch won't be as bad.

"Now we get to fixing the forge and once we've done that, we draw up some schematics to begin arming ourselves." Orion reminded the survivors.

"I still wanna take a look at them swords." Straightedge said as he looked at Kasey.

"Later." Kasey waved off Straightedge before looking around, "Aren't we missing one? Black and yellow?" She asked Grandcloud since she was still in his servo.

Shadowblitz looked around as well, "Where's Bumblebee?"

Everyone else looked and noticed that Bumblebee wasn't with them.

"Welp. Frag." Straightedge concluded.

"I'll go looking for him." Shadowblitz sighed before her wolf-like audio receptors perked up. Her mask clamped back down, she moving and going to the edge of the volcano. She looked around, her servos in fists.

Ratchet narrowed his optics a bit, "I haven't heard anything from him on the comms either."

"Well, that's probably because he's a goner." Straightedge concluded once more.

"Don't say such things, Straightedge." Grandcloud spoke nervously.

"Hey mech, he's by himself with a Decepticon on the loose. She, no doubt, was still keeping and eye on us and she picked off the first one that was alone. And that one, was Bumblebee."

"Enough, Straightedge. We must locate him." Orion stated.

"I hear movement, north towards the body of water we were at, Orion." Shadowblitz spoke up, turning to face the others.

"Then we best head that way, Bumblebee possibly lead her there incase if she was an aerocraft." Ratchet shook his helm before looking towards Orion.

"Then let us make haste and save our friend." Orion transformed into his alt. mode and drove off the edge and down the slope.

Grandcloud transformed into his alt. mode with Kasey seated in the cockpit and blasted off in the direction of the lake.

Shadowblitz and Ratchet followed suit after Orion, Shadowblitz transforming and rushing ahead of Orion. After all, she was the one who first dealt with the larger femme.

"Think you guys can take her down? The bigger femme?" Kasey asked Grandcloud nervously, staring forward a bit.

"I couldn't tell you, Kasey. Sure we outnumber her, but we don't have much experience under our belts. The best we can manage is a stalemate. I'll have to drop you off back at home though, so you can be out of harm's way."

"No, I'm coming with! It's less logical to spend time dropping me off when I could easily go hide in the woods near the lake. Besides, I'm an easy distraction for her, I doubt she has not taken notice of how much time I spend with all of you."

"I don't know, Kasey...I couldn't forgive myself if in the event you were injured or killed in this conflict..."

"I'll be fine, Grandcloud. Promise. The most of my worries is to NOT fall in the lake, I could care less about the giant robots that could practically squish me under foot."

"And _that_ is unnerving." The lake comes into view, "You promise to stay clear?"

"Promise." Kasey nodded, "As soon as I'm put down, I'll go hide in the trees."

Shadowblitz transformed once she reached the hill, easily swinging herself over the top and continuing downward. Genesis threw Bumblebee back into the trees, the large femme growling a bit as she stood there.

Orion reverted to his bipedal mode and went to help Bumblebee. "Are you alright, Bumblebee?"

"I'm fine. She's just strong." Bumblebee nodded at Orion before he shifted to stand up, Shadowblitz scrambling to stand next to them.

"Great... she even has a cannon." Shadowblitz grumbled at spotting Genesis's weapon of choice.

Grandcloud transformed and landed on the far side of the lake, away from everyone else. "Here you are. Make yourself scarce and hide, Kasey."

Kasey nodded and quickly scrambled off into the trees to hide, "Be safe, Grandcloud!"

Grandcloud nodded before transforming back into his alt. mode and blasting off towards where Genesis was.

Genesis turned away at the sound of different engines, her lens-optic narrowing a bit. "I knew there had to be more of you if you bunch were here at the start."

"We told you before, we don't know the whereabouts of the Allspark. You're only wasting your time here." Orion tried convincing Genesis.

"Wasting time? More like getting rid of a scrawny bunch that shouldn't have left Cybertron." Genesis growled as she turned to face Orion again, her servo tightening into a fist.

"You sure took your sweet time all day yesterday..." Orion retorted.

"I didn't have weapon systems, did I?" Genesis chuckled darkly, shaking her helm softly. Her mask split apart, a smirk apparent on her face. "Besides, simply crushing you lot under ped would have been unpleasing, cleaning off all the wasted energon."

Orion winced at her threat. Just then, the sound of a jet engine can be heard, followed by the sound of continuous popping noises. Genesis was beginning to get pelted by Grandcloud, who was opening fires at her whilst still closing in.

Genesis let out a low grunt as she began to get pelted by the shots before she turned towards Grandcloud, raising her cannon and taking aim. "I don't find it enjoyable when- ack!" The larger femme was cut off by Shadowblitz slamming her pedes into the other's back, causing the larger to fall down onto her knees. Shadowblitz backed off again, mask clamped down and servos in fists.

Grandcloud stopped shooting, transformed in mid-flight, and kicked Genesis over as he landed on the shore of the lake.

Genesis fell back onto the ground, growling before she rolled over onto her front and pushed herself back to her pedes. Her cannon took aim at Shadowblitz, already charged before it blasted into the femme, due to the fact that she hadn't moved far enough back.

"Shadowblitz!" Bumblebee beeped worriedly as he watched the smaller of the two femmes fly back, the minor plating on her abdomen practically gone due to the blast.

Orion bared his dentas. Grandcloud continued to fire at Genesis with an arm-turret.

"Leave now, Decepticon if you know what is good for you!" Grandcloud warned.

"Oh! And what? Miss out on the blast?!" Genesis snarled before she moved her way towards Shadowblitz, arming her cannon again. "I suggest you now take care, before I blast her to smithereens." The larger femme hissed as she aimed the cannon at Shadowblitz once more.

Grandcloud stopped firing and simply aim his arm-turret at Genesis. They had a short standstill until they could hear a car coming closer at high speed. They could easily see Straightedge coming towards everyone. He quickly transformed into his bipedal mode, jumping at Genesis and tackling her to the ground.

"I got 'er, guys! I got 'er!" Straightedge exclaimed as he tussled with her to keep her grounded.

Genesis let out a loud yell of surprise as she slammed the blade-edge of her cannon into Straightedge. "Off, you buffoon!" She snarled.

Ratchet swiftly made his way over to Shadowblitz, heaving her up to get her away.

"Aaah! Guys I'm hurt! I'm hurt guys!" Straightedge rolled away with his side damaged.

Grandcloud began to open fire at Genesis once more. Orion quickly helped Bumblebee up and pulled him away from the gunfire.

Genesis aimed a shot at Grandcloud, powering up her cannon and shooting a blast at him. "Gah!" She grunted, rolling to stand again.

"We need to do something, Orion!" Bumblebee beeped nervously.

"Gaaah!" Grandcloud was blasted back into the banks of the lake, causing a big splash. Pieces of him scatter about as a smoke emited from the blastmark on his chassis.

Straightedge was still rolling back in forth while bellowing in agony.

Orion looked at all the trees around him. "Quickly, Bumblebee. Help me get one of these trees loose." He grabbed ahold of a tree and began to push it with all his might, his engine slowly roaring as he did so.

Bumblebee quickly nodded and pushed against the tree he had grabbed, his engine slowly revving. "Come on!" He growled as he continued to push.

Genesis's mask split apart, she growling as her single optic glanced around. "This ends, now!" She charged up her cannon again, ready to blast Shadowblitz into the Well.

Grandcloud sat up slight, a purple glow emitting from the blast mark to his chassis. He opened fire at Genesis again, still being wounded from her attack.

Orion and Bumblebee managed to uproot the tree. They moved it to where they're holding it sideways. Orion was in front with Bumblebee behind him.

Genesis snarled as she began to get pelted again. She changed direction with her cannon, her mask and lens clamping down again.

Bumblebee shifted and stared, holding onto the tree.

Straightedge got to his pedes and lunged at Genesis again, grabbing on to her Hexa-Lateral Scapula, "I got 'er again guys!"

"Now, Bumblebee! We charge!" Orion exclaimed.

Bumblebee sprinted forward, charging with Orion as they held the tree. Hopefully this femme would go away.

Genesis snarled and tried to get Straightedge off of her, her large servo trying to grab him.

"Ha-ha! Too much for you to handle huh, Decepticon?" Straightedge boasted.

"I'll take you all on!" Genesis quickly boosted herself into the air with her thrusters, snarling. She slammed her cannon blade back into Straightedge, snarling.

Straightedge fell to the ground, "Aaah! She got me again, guys!"

"Bumblebee, we have to throw it!" Orion exclaimed as they saw Genesis flying in mid-air.

Genesis hissed a bit as she looked around.

"Then throw it!" Bumblebee beeped.

The two mechs threw the tree at Genesis as hard as they could.

Genesis barely noticed the tree in time but she was slammed into by it, falling into the lake with a yell.

The large splash pushed Grandcloud to dry shore. He slowly got himself to his feet. Orion went to keep him balanced.

"Stay with us, Grandcloud. We'll have her yet."

"She already has half of us barely standing. I don't know how much longer until _all_ of us aren't standing at all..." Grandcloud said, putting a servo on Orion's shoulder to keep him balanced.

"Let's get out of here, we're outmatched. And I doubt a flyer can do anything with waterlogging." Ratchet spoke up as he heaved Shadowblitz into his arms.

Bumblebee quickly went to help Straightedge.

"Meeeeech...I think she almost cut me in haaaaalf..." Straightedge moaned.

Orion put Grandcloud's arm around his shoulders and guided him away from the lake, "Where is Kasey?"

"On the other side of the lake...Hopefully she can see us making a tactical retreat..." Grandcloud answered.

Bumblebee quickly heaved Straightedge into a standing position, putting his arm around his shoulders. He shook his helm before guiding him away slowly.

"She should be able to." Ratchet grunted as he carried an unconscious Shadowblitz.

"We'll have to make our stand back at the warehouse. If she decided to finish us today that is." Orion stated as he continued to help the injured Grandcloud.

Ratchet nodded, before he sighed a bit. "Shadowblitz will be in a stasis lock for at least a cycle, the blast to her abdomen destroyed a lot of plating." He said beck towards Orion.

Orion looked to Shadowblitz and sighed, "Better than her being offline. Can you tell by about the other two?"

"Yea medic...Has my time come...To be one with that Primus-forsaken cube..." Straightedge asked dizzily.

"Straightedge has minor damage from that strange blade, Grandcloud's metal needs to be repaired." Ratchet glanced back at the mechs. "They'll live just fine."

"Oh thank Primuuuuus... You here that, Bee? Imma liiive...Imma liiiver..."

"Easy Straight. Stop talking.." Bumblebee shook his helm.

"You know, you're right...We should celebrate if we survive this..."

"Stop talking Straightedge." Ratchet advised.

"C'mon guys...If I do that, then I can't distract myself...From the pain..."

"Just take it easy." Ratchet sighed, "You're losing energon from that wound."

"O-okay, medic...I'lllllllll leave it...To you...Thennnn..." Straightedge lost consciousness.

Bumblebee yelped a bit when Straightedge lost consciousness, slipping a bit since he was just a bit shorter than the other mech.

They all managed to make it back to warehouse. "We've made it. Quickly, we must set our injured down somewhere and prepare for an attack," Orion said.

Ratchet set Shadowblitz down, huffing a bit as he got back up. "These wounds aren't gonna kill them, luckily. We should be fine on preparation of an attack."

Bumblebee set Straightedge against a wall, panting.

Orion helped Grandcloud through the warehouse entrance and set him down against the wall.

Bumblebee looked towards Orion, nodding at him before heading out to keep an optic out for Genesis.

Ratchet turned to Orion, "Just us three against her... and she took out three of our best fighters."

"And just when we were about to get the forge operational..." Orion shook his helm before looking to Bumblebee, "How did she get a hold of you?"

"I was making my way towards the volcano, and took a wrong turn and was jumped." Bumblebee beeped his explanation.

Orion still couldn't understand him but figured that Genesis somehow got the jump on him "Well, if push comes to shove, we'll just have to use Kasey's vehicles as a deterrent against the Decepticon. Hopefully, Kasey will understand."

"I'm sure she will. I hope she can manage her way here from that lake." Ratchet sighed and looked towards the entrance of the warehouse.

"I hope so as well, but now, we wait for anything." Orion said looking out the warehouse with Ratchet.

Ratchet shook his helm, "Until Genesis arrives, I'm doing what's in my programming. These wounds aren't going to heal themselves."

"Then let us aid you." Orion offered, "You instruct us how and we will follow."

Megatron was in the laboratory, watching Shockwave analyze the two Mini-Cons recovered. "What have you come up with, Shockwave?"

"Nothing as of yet, Megatron. Yet Genesis reported in moments again with an EMP packet. I'm sure it brings good news to downfall of the survivors." Shockwave mused back to the larger mech, continuing to analyze the two mini-cons.

"Hopefully so. I want as minimal resistance once we get to the planet to retrieve the Allspark. Though I thought I had ordered her not to engage for the time being."

"Perhaps her weapons systems came back online. The only way to know is via contact, but I'm busy at the moment so contact is minimal."

"Very well then. I was also told by my troops that the main boosters are now operational again, correct?"

"Yes, main boosters are operational. Working on smaller ones to cause more thrust and ability for the Nemesis to get off this forsaken rock."

"Haha! Excellent! Truly excellent. We've wasted enough time as it is here. The Allspark may have been discovered by the natives by this point."

"Plausible. Perhaps contact with Genesis would be best, to see what the survivors have been up to. I can take a moment to patch you through."

"Then go get it out the way. We'll focus on the Mini-Cons later."

"Very well." Shockwave stopped his analysis and began to contact Genesis.

"Genesis, do you read? Report your status."

"Repairing damage to my chassis. Three out of the six survivors are down at the moment."

"Down, but not offline I presume?"

"I assume the femme is offline with the blasts she took. The other two are unknown if offline or not."

"We'll that's little less resistance than I thought. If you can, destroy what's left of them. Before the next solar cycle comes, we will be on our way to the planet."

"Yes sir. I have yet to deal with the natives of this planet, but the survivors seem to have a pet one. What should I do with them?"

"Whatever you like. It won't matter to us unless it would know where the Allspark is."

"It might. I might try to steal it away, after this damage is gone. Any further orders, Lord Megatron?... As well, if you don't mind me speaking out of order, if there are more Cybertronians on this planet, shall I destroy them as well?"

"More Cybertronians? What compels you to thinks that there are more on this planet? Sure no one left could've escaped with our notice...Though they would've been of no concern to us since we were going directly after the Allspark..." Megatron stroked his chin in thought.

"I was unsure. If more left before the war got too heavy." Genesis huffed a bit, "I will begin my search for the Allspark's destination after my repairs are finished. Any further orders?"

"None as of now. I must inform you though, we might not be near your location. We'll be making a straight shot towards the planet. You'll have to rendezvous to us. We'll still keep in contact so we can guide you to our location. Understood?"

"Understood, Lord Megatron. I will finish my repairs and get on my way."

The transmission ended. "Everything is all coming together. The survivors near the brink of destruction, barely any capable resistance from the natives, main boosters are operational, two ancient powers within our grasp, and all is left is to locate and retrieve what is ours. But I am no fool, Shockwave. If we delay any longer, it won't be as easy as this again. This is one opening we cannot miss, Understood?"

"I understand, Lord Megatron. We will have the Allspark within our grasp soon enough. And this rotten sector will bow to you."

"It will bow to _us_ , old friend. A leader is only as good as the army he leads. You've all done a great service to this cause. I will see to it you are given your rewards for your devotion."

"Very well, Megatron. Let us hope whatever is occurring can lead us straight to where the Decepticons rule this galaxy and beyond."

"I can envision it now, old friend. And it's still quite the sight." He gave a sinister smile as he looked on at the Mini-Cons.  
-

Kasey had managed to make her way back to her home after some time, after all, large hills took a toll on bad knees. She clambered over a rock, losing her step and tumbling comedically into her property.

Bumblebee took instant notice and his optics widened a bit when she fell. "Kasey's back!"

"Oh thank Primus. I was sure cursing to myself for leaving you alone like that." Grandcloud said with relief as Orion attempted to fix his chamber wound.

"We're very relieved you managed to evade the Decepticon, Kasey. We couldn't forgive ourselves if you had gotten hurt." Orion stated.

"I outran... a giant metal robot, armed with a fucking cannon..." Kasey panted as Bumblebee picked her up and brought her inside.

"Good news." Ratchet sounded sarcastic as he worked on fixing up Straightedge's wounds from Genesis's blade. "Now we just have to hope she gave up."

"That would be good news. But she's no doubt recovering herself after Bumblebee and I attacked her with one of your planet's trees. It was very effective." Orion stated as he continued to tend to Grandcloud.

"You threw a tree at her?" Kasey asked after a few moments, coughing.

"Orion. I'll work on Grandcloud, tend to Shadowblitz." Ratchet spoke up as he glanced at the other mech.

Orion nodded. He went over to Shadowblitz and began to try fixing her up. "You'll be up on your pedes in no time, Shadowblitz. Just allow me figure you out."

Ratchet began to work on Grandcloud's chassis, "Luckily this didn't go deeper."

"I'm surprised myself, Ratchet. Maybe my chassis is more durable than I thought." Gradcloud lightly joked.

"Or she wasn't at full power when she shot you. She did use two blasts on Shadowblitz." Ratchet shook his helm with a slight chuckle, carefully repairing the metal.

"You said she'll be ok, didn't you Ratchet?" Grandcloud asked with concern.

"I said she should be alright. Just the stasis lock is what worries me." Ratchet glanced at Grandcloud before looking back at Shadowblitz.

"Why is that, Ratchet?" Grandcloud asked.

"Last time she went into a stasis lock, she came back online... but almost as if feral, animalistic. No remorse in whatever she did." Ratchet narrowed his optics a bit with a sigh.

Grandcloud sighed, worried about their situation. "We won't be able to keep this up, Ratchet...We could barely handle one Decepticon without half of us being incapacitated. We can't take a whole army of them..."

"Then we have to make sure you're all repaired soon, and capable of defending yourselves." Ratchet glanced at Grandcloud, "We didn't expect Genesis, nor could we have known what she was capable of."

"It's not just Genesis, Ratchet...The Decepticons are war-made...Regardless of we her capabilities or not. The sheer fact her function is to fight and destroy her enemies..." Grandcloud shook his helm at the thought.

Ratchet shook his helm, "Her function wasn't to fight, actually... I took a scan, and her name isn't Genesis... at least it wasn't when I knew her." He sighed as he did what he could, "Your self repair systems can do the rest."

Grandcloud nodded. Straightedge turned his helm every now and then, mumbling.

Ratchet glanced back at Straightedge, sighing. He moved and went to work on getting him repaired, shaking his helm a bit.

"By Primus...What are those things...Sure ain't...Cybertronian..." Straightedge whispered in his unconscious state.

"Huh?" Ratchet murmured and raised an optic ridge, continuing to repair Straightedge.

"Gotta...Get out before...They see me...Siblings...Where the frag are you..." Straightedge began to lean over to his right.

Ratchet shook his helm a bit, "Neuro dreaming..." he sighed and continued, Bumblebee setting Kasey down.

Kasey scrambled over to Grandcloud, eyeing the slight hole in his chassis. "Are you gonna be alright?" She asked.

"I'll be honest with you, Kasy. Probably not. I'm fearful of what might become of us later." Grandcloud admitted.

"We'll get through this, Grandcloud." Orion tried assuring Grandcloud.

"How so? The best plan we have other than wait and recover is to throw Kasey's many vehicles at the Decepticon."

"Maybe I can get past Shadowblitz's stasis lock programming, wake her up." Ratchet spoke up as he continued with Straightedge.

"That Decepti-punk can bite the dust." Kasey grumbled a bit, shaking her head.

Orion shook Shadowblitz. "Shadowblitz. Wake up. We are in need of your assistance."

A low growl came from the femme and she tried to swat Orion away, "Lemme recharge..."

Ratchet rolled his optics and chuckled a bit.

Orion backed away, startled from her sudden awareness, "My apologies."

Shadowblitz powered her optics online with a huff, "No need to apologize... stasis lock faded with hearing Kasey."

Kasey smirked a bit, crossing her arms. Ratchet shook his helm before continuing his work.

Grandcloud gave a small smirk himself. "Bumblebee, how is everything looking from outside?"

"Looking empty. No sign of the decepticon." Bumblebee beeped as he glanced inside, waving at Shadowblitz.

"According to Bee, no sign of Genesis." The femme pushed herself into a sitting position with a wince.

"I sure hope that lasts for us." Grandcloud tried to stand up.

"Don't stand, Grandcloud." Ratchet said as he finally stopped repairing Straightedge.

Grandcloud sighed before sinking back down, "Alright, Medic. I sure hope this Decepticon makes some sort of retreat so we can hurry and create the forge."

"That is an absolute must. If we manage to outlast this one long enough to set up the forge, we'll be in a better position than now." Orion agreed.

Ratchet nodded his helm, before Shadowblitz pushed herself to stand. The mech gave her a glare, "Shadowblitz-"

"Bite my tailpipe, Ratchet... I'm taking her head on." Shadowblitz growled as she maneuvered her way out of the warehouse, despite Bumblebee's beeping of protest.

Grandcloud reached out to Shadowblitz, "Shadowblitz... Please don't go...Not by yourself."

Shadowblitz glanced back at Grandcloud, letting out a bit of a sigh. "Someone has to keep her occupied, and I'm one of the most capable of fighting out of all of us. I promise I'll return."

"There's no need to prove anything to us, Shadowblitz. Our chances are better in numbers." Orion tried convincing her.

"I'm not proving anything, Orion." Shadowblitz looked back at him, "She came after me first, so I'm finishing this, one way or another... You have to realize that, despite being wounded, I am better off fighting alone than in any numbers." Her helm turned away and she began to walk away from the warehouse.

"If you say so..." Orion said, without saying anything else afterwards.

Ratchet sighed and shook his helm, "We need to do something, and quick... Knowing her, she's going to lead her off."

Orion looked to Bumblebee, "Bumblebee, we must work as quickly as possible on that forge!"

Bumblebee nodded, "Right away, Orion." He left the warehouse, to head back to the volcano.

Orion followed behind him.

Grandcloud watched them go and looked to Ratchet. "Ratchet, there was something odd I discovered on the human's transmission box. Something that might of some significance."

"What is it?" Ratchet asked as he looked at Grandcloud.

Bumblebee transformed and sped off.

"This strange "formation" the humans call the "Horn of Chuxiculub" was discovered in protruding out of a substance-filled crater. I was getting strange feelings from the sight of it as its structure looks vaguely Cybertronian."

"We'll have to look at it. Maybe Kasey can tell us more about it as well. We'll just have to wait."

"Maybe that transmission box knows the location of the Allspark as well. Maybe her laptop could lead us too."

"Probably. We just have to wait and see." Ratchet shook his helm with a sigh, "Let's hope this finishes."

-  
Orion and Bumblebee made it to the ledge. Orion reverted to his bipedal mode and began the scramble through the parts. "Alright, Bumblebee. Like I said, we must work as quickly as we can. I don't know how long Shadowblitz can withstand the Decepticon."

Bumblebee pulled himself over the edge, nodding in agreement. He began to work on fitting parts on the forge, "I believe she'll be able to stand against Genesis."

Orion began to further assemble and wire the parts together as Bumblebee assisted him.  
-

Shadowblitz stared at Genesis, the two femmes glaring at each other. The larger of the two practically circled the smaller one, the wolf's optics never leaving the others'.

"You know, you would have made a great Decepticon." Genesis mused with a deep chuckle, stopping her movement and staring at Shadowblitz.

"You were a great member of Alpha Trion's council. Why did you change?" Shadowblitz hissed, her showing optic narrowing.

"What better way to say goodbye to someone you thought cared than to kill them?" Genesis snarled before she slammed into Shadowblitz at full-force, the blade edge of her cannon ripping through the recently repaired plating. Shadowblitz let out a deep snarl, but slammed her fist into the lens Genesis had.  
-

Orion and Bumblebee were a 1/4 done with the forge. They began to have slight wiring problems as some of them are still tangled.

"Cursed wires..." Orion uttered to himself in annoyance as he continued to untangle them.

Bumblebee looked up at the sound of a slam, the reverberating sound from the fight. He shuddered and continued to help Orion, "I hope she's alright..."

Orion looked over his shoulder-guard over the ledge at the forest, then to Bumblebee. "Don't you worry, Bumblebee. Once we get this complete and operational, we'll take the fight to that Decepticon. I promise."

"We better." Bumblebee let out a growl-like noise via his engine, since his vocal processor wasn't working. He shifted to another set of tangled wires.

The two mechs continued to work as quickly as they could to assemble the forge.  
-

Genesis had managed to pin Shadowblitz under a foot, the weight heavy on the smaller femme's chassis. Shadowblitz coughed and spat out energon as Genesis knelt down, putting more weight on her chest.

"How sweet, you'll die protecting something lost." Genesis mused with a dark chuckle, her cannon powering online.

"We...trusted you!" Shadowblitz spat at the larger femme, energon covering the other's faceplate. "Why, Gloryblast?! We all trusted you!"

"What better way to turn traitor than to be left to rot in a Decepticon holding cell? After being put through the gladiatorial rings of Kaon?" Genesis snarled as she pressed her cannon into Shadowblitz's chassis, glaring down at her.

"Then why fight us.. when you could get rid of the faction that did this to you?!" Shadowblitz gasped to breathe before Genesis narrowed her optics more. She slammed her elbow into Shadowblitz's head, knocking the femme out cold before she got up.

"What choice do I have?" Genesis snarled, shaking her helm.  
-

Grandcloud's chassis was close to full-repair. He attempted to work himself into a standing position.

Ratchet glanced up towards the entrance of the warehouse, standing against one of the walls. "Be careful, don't reopen that wound of yours." He advised Grandcloud with a slight huff.

Grandcloud used the side of the entrance as leverage. "I'll do my best, Ratchet. Though I'll be risking that danger with what I'm about to do..." Grandcloud looked outside to the afternoon sky as he jet thrusters began to fire up.

"What are you doing?" Ratchet asked, but kept it quiet as he shifted against the wall and pushed up a bit.

"Our fellow survivor needs assistance. I'm the only one available currently until you finish fixing Straightedge."

"Why is everything...So STEEP!" Straightedge said in his sleep.

"True, I'm not sure what more I could do for him with his self-repair systems to be kicked in. Just... be careful Grandcloud."

"I'm not sure if that's an option for us anymore..." With that, Grandcloud blasted off over the forest trees.  
-

Bumblebee swiped a servo across his forehead, pushing the forge a bit and switching its' position. He huffed a bit before glancing back at Orion.

Orion stepped back as they looked at the forge. Fully complete finally.

"Okay...We have it set up...It should start on its own if I'm not mistaken, right?"Bumblebee nodded, looking at the forge curiously.

The forge began to activate as a blue light illuminated the center.

"There we are, but...Curses! What do we make? We still need a general idea of what weapons we make! Bumblebee, do you have any idea?"

Bumblebee tilted his head, before shaking his helm.

Orion growled. "Forget the forge for now, Bumblebee. We'll have to figure the rest out later. Right now, Shadowblitz might not have long if she hasn't gone of line yet. Let's move!" Orion ran towards the edge, jumped off of it, transformed into his alt. mode, and drove down the volcano.

Bumblebee beeped in surprise and rushed after him, transforming and driving after him. Hopefully they would get to Shadowblitz in time.

-  
Grandcloud was still flying over the forests of the mountain. Looking attentively for where a conflict might have transpired.

Genesis used one of her extra abilities, known as size-changing, to revert back to her original form. She sat down near Shadowblitz, optics narrowed into a glare behind the visor- which replaced the lense.

Grandclod descended to ground level to find any clues for the whereabouts of Shadowblitz

There was some skid marks, some broken trees. Probably from the fight, it lead right back to the lake though.

Grandcloud slowly followed this path of destruction and a few seconds later, saw the lake ahead of him.

Next to the lake was Shadowblitz, on the ground with damage to her abdomen and chassis. But, there was no sign of Genesis.

"Shadowblitz..!" Grandcloud quickly looked around for Genesis. When he doesn't see her around, he went out to the shore and knelt next to Shadowblitz "Shadowblitz, speak to me. Are you still online?"

Shadowblitz groaned a bit when she heard Grandcloud, wincing as she finally woke up from the knockout via Genesis. "My processor is achin' worse than when I was stuck in battery acid infested ruins, but I ain't offline."

Grandcloud let out a sigh of relief. "Good." He proceeded to pick her up and held her in a cradle position. "I'll take you back to the warehouse to get fixed up, ok?"

"I'm fine, Grand. Just a bit of pain, nothing I can't handle." Shadowblitz gave him a reassuring grin, powering her optics online.

"You know, you can only push yourself so far."

"I have been pushing myself since we arrived on this planet, I'm fine."

Grandcloud still didn't like her doing this to herself but he didn't want to stay on the subject for much longer. He blasted off over the forests.

"How long was I gone..?" Shadowblitz asked after a moment, wincing and pressing a servo to her helm.

"10 to 15 minutes."

"Felt much longer than that.. yeesh."

"It probably was. Im estimating actually."

"Heh, guess we'll never know until we talk to someone else."

They flew further as they could see Bumblebee and Orion driving on the main mountain path "There's Orion and Bumblebee. No doubt probably done with the forge."

"Good to know, we'll finally be able to make something useful rather than just taking a beating." Shadowblitz winced again as she glanced down.

"Don't move too much if you don't have to, ok? We don't know how much damage you've sustained."

"We both know we're both able to take a beating. Flying in dead space, being pelted by shots and yet still living enough on this planet."

"Well, you got me there." Grandcloud admitted, "Hopefully, those two see us and head back to the warehouse."

"Hopefully." Shadowblitz shook her helm and huffed a bit.

Bumblebee noticed something flying nearby, and noticed it was quite a familiar figure. He honked his horn to catch Orion's attention.

"Hm? What is the matter, Bumblebee?"

Bumblebee stopped and transformed, pointing up towards Grandcloud and Shadowblitz. "Look up, Orion."

Orion stopped and transformed into his bipedal mode. He looked up and saw Grandcloud flying overhead. "He's recovered." He looked closer and saw he's carrying Shadowblitz "And has Shadowblitz. Let's meet them back at the warehouse."

Bumblebee nodded and transformed, speeding past Orion and down towards the warehouse.

Orion transformed and followed him.

Grandcloud landed at the entrance to the warehouse. "We've returned."

"Good." Shadowblitz chuckled as she shifted a bit, wincing again. "I might rest a bit..."

Bumblebee sped through the path and onto the property eagerly.

Orion returned to his bipedal mode and jogged to Grandcloud "How damaged is she?"

"Not as bad as we thought." Grandcloud responded.

"I'm fine." Shadowblitz huffed a bit, shaking her helm faintly.

Bumblebee trailed after Orion, beeping nervously. "You sure about that, Shadow?""

At the very least you could confirm with Ratchet." Orion suggested.

Shadowblitz sighed a bit before she slowly moved out of Grandcloud's grasp, dropping down onto her pedes with a huff. "Very well..."

Straightedge was turning his helm some as he began to become conscious. "Uuuuuuuuuuggghhh..."

Ratchet glanced towards him, "Good, you're awake. How do you feel?" The medic asked, pushing off the wall and heading over to Straight Edge.

Straightedge opened his optics wide open. He slowly turned to Ratchet. But he did not see Ratchet. Instead, he saw a Decepticon trooper. He began breathing heavily and his face contorted into an expression of fury. Straightedge lunged at Ratchet, tackling him to the ground, then proceeded to attack him.

The others could see this and immediately rush to aid Ratchet.

Orion grabbed Straightedge by the arm and held it back. "Straightedge, what are doing?!"

Ratchet yelled out, before quickly trying to get out from underneath Straightedge. He pushed the other mech off of him, scrambling back with wide optics.

Shadowblitz stared at Straightedge.

Bumblebee grabbed Straightedge's other arm.

Grandcloud slid through the entrance and helped the other two mechs contain Straightedge. "You'll never scrap me, you fraggin' scrap heaps! I tear you apart before you can even utter a word! GAAAAH!"

Kasey could hear them from her place in the house, and went to inspect what was going on. She closed her notebook and followed the sounds.

Shadowblitz shook her helm, before splitting her mask and quickly going to Straightedge. "Straightedge!"

"WHAAAAT?!"

"Calm down, fragger!" The femme grabbed the sides of his helm, narrowing her optics at him.

Kasey peaked into the warehouse with wide eyes.

Straightedge's optics adjusted. He calmed down and looked at Orion as well as Bumblebee holding his arms. "The frag are you guys doing?"

"You went after Ratchet." Shadowblitz sighed as she let go of his helm, Bumblebee letting go of his arm nervously.

"Did I? I could've sworn I was scrapping a decepticon." Straightedge grunted as he yanked his other arm away from Orion and stood.

"Straightedge, what is going on with you?" Orion asked.

"I don't know. I still dream about the war. I guess anytime I open my eyes, I'm still dreaming."

"We need to change that." Ratchet grunted as he pushed himself into a standing position, shaking his helm. He heard a soft beeping on one of his scanners and looking at it, raising an optic ridge. "That's strange, there's another life signal here on the Earth, not including Genesis and us."

Shadowblitz looked up curiously, her fiberglass cover flipping open over her damaged optic. "Oh?"

"What could it be?" Grandcloud asked, as he gave Straightedge some space.

"It's Cybertronian, so it has to be another one of our race. It isn't matching the Allspark signature either." Ratchet shook his helm a bit, "I'm unsure what it is."

"Is it close by, by any chance, Ratchet?" Orion asked.

"Very. By the body of water we were at previously." Ratchet nodded.

"That close? Unbelievable." Grandcloud said in amazement.

"So, who's gonna go check it out?" Straightedge asked.

"Why doesn't Orion?" Shadowblitz suggested, earning a nod from Bumblebee

Orion nodded. "Then let us go. The rest of you, begin drawing up schematics for weapons. Bumblebee managed to get the forge up and operational."

"Shall I accompany you so you can find it?" Ratchet asked.

Shadowblitz nodded.

"Then let's head out. You lead the way, Ratchet" Orion suggested.

Ratchet nodded and left the warehouse, transforming and driving off.

Orion transformed and followed behind him.

"Shouldn't be that far. It seemed to be getting closer to Kasey's home, when I looked." Ratchet spoke as he headed up a trail.

"That's good. But what could it be? There shouldn't be anything from our home on Earth as far as we know."

"Unless... it was something that could have won us the war... Do you remember the mentions of mini-cons while you were a data clerk?"

"Ah yes! As a matter of fact I have."

"Very possible one was sent here, out of reach for the Decepticons. Possibly powered online when the Allspark entered the planet's atmosphere."

"You've mean they were put in stasis here all these cycles?"

"Very possible. Could explain why it just showed up on my radar-" Ratchet had began before a small, Cybertronian aerocraft blasted past them. The mech transformed and slid to a halt, "That has to be it."

Orion skidded to halt to keep from hitting Ratchet and transformed to his bipedal mode. He then looked up to see the aircraft fly by. "Was that it, Ratchet?"

Ratchet checked his scanner, "It is it. Now the trouble is catching it." He huffed softly, trailing after it.

"We might need Grandcloud for that." Orion followed Ratchet as they began their chase for the aerocraft.

"We might. That if it doesn't land." Ratchet shook his helm a bit as he chased the aerocraft.

"We should try capturing it, but 'how' is the question."

"We could always throw one of Kasey's vehicles at it to stun and grab it."

"Excellent Idea, Ratchet!" Orion exclaimed.

"Just a simple idea, really." Ratchet chuckled and shook his helm, noticing it flying towards the warehouse where the others residing.

Straightedge was sitting next to Kasey with her laptop open, letting him look at the assortment of swords ,"Mmmmmmmmm...I think I like those." Straightedge pointed at the scimitars on the screen.

"Scimitars." Kasey said the name of the swords, "Possibly a devastating weapon." She looked up at the small grinding of gears and a subtle thud, the mini-con looking around before spotting Straightedge.

Ratchet noticed it land and narrowed his optics a bit. "Maybe we don't have to harm the mini-con..."

Grandcloud looked to Ratchet, "Mini-Con?" He then looked to the small Cybertronian, "They're still around?"

The mini-con jumped when he saw Grandcloud, scrambling to hide somewhere. He managed to hide behind Straightedge, shivering.

"They've always been around, just gone from Cybertron." Ratchet looked towards the mini-con was hiding, the small Cybertronian making a bit of a chattering noise.

"Why is it hiding behind me? It's not like I can keep it safe. Frag, I can barely keep _myself_ safe!" Straightedge chuckled.

"You were the biggest thing that he was close to." Ratchet rolled his optics before glancing around, noticing that Shadowblitz was staring a bit towards the mini-con.

Kasey set down the laptop, curiously getting up to go look at the newcomer.

"Where did you find it?" Grandcloud asked.

"It was on its way here as it was." Orion answered.

The mini-con noticed Kasey and curiously popped out from behind Straightedge, honestly just a few feet taller than her.

"This one... I knew that one..." Shadowblitz murmured quietly, looking away from the mini-con.

"Oh yea? When? I didn't think any were still on Cybertron." Straightedge looked at the mini-con.

"I was...by the Well, just a sparkling. He belonged to Glory Blast's sire, known as Scorpid Sting." Shadowblitz sighed as she sat down.

The mini-con curiously picked up Kasey and kept his arms around her.

"Hey. That's our human." Straightedge reached over and pulled Kasey away from the mini-con, flicking it over as well. "Get your own."

"Straightedge, stop that! The mini-con is simply displaced for being in stasis for so long." Orion stated.

The mini-con scrambled back away from Straightedge, ducking away over to Shadowblitz. Kasey huffed a bit and went back over to the mini-con, patting his spinal strut.

"Easy with him, his armor wasn't the greatest either." Shadowblitz huffed softly.

"Scorpid Sting's mini-con?" Ratchet hummed, toying with the name. "Wait, Wait Wait. Are we talking about Scorpid Sting, the Knight?!" He seemed dumbfounded, earning a nod from Shadowblitz.

"Wait...Are we talking about the same Knights? The 'Knight' Knights?" Straightedge asked for clarification.

"No one ever really knew if he was one of THE knights, just the way he held himself made him seem like it." Ratchet rubbed the back of his helm sheepishly.

"He was sure as the Pit trained as one, no one was that skilled with a blade and that strong on his own accord." Shadowblitz chuckled, shaking her helm. The mini-con looked up at Scorpid's mention and curiously looked around, with a few chitters of confusion.

Orion approached the mini-con and placed a servo down for it to get on.

The mini-con eyed the servo nervously before slowly stepping onto it. He looked back up to Orion, tilting his helm to the side.

"If I remember correctly, his designation was Guardian." Shadowblitz added quietly, the mini-con nodding as if it was his designation.

Orion lifted up the mini-con up. "Greetings Guardian. I am Orion Pax. And these are the last few survivors of our planet and yours."

"Sur...viv...ors?" The garbled voice made the mini-con wince before he tweaked with the cables on his neck, coughing a bit. "What...happened?" Guardian spoke mildly, having a strangely deep tone for someone so small.

Orion sighed, "The many conflicts throughout our planets many cycles of life have taken its toll. Our planet has a broken apart and is continued to be ravaged by the ongoing war with the Decepticons. We are here now for the Allspark that was sent to this planet to keep it away from them and create a new Cybertron."

Guardian bowed his helm and shook it slightly, "Scorpid was right... the war would take many eons and many lives with it..." He sighed before looking back at Orion, "Orion Pax, answer me this question. Who has the Matrix, if anybot?"

"We do...I had put it away in one of our friend, Kasey's vehicles. What compelled you to ask about the Matrix?"

"It's a symbol of leadership. Scorpid was a former guardian for the Prime who had it... until... I can't remember. I don't remember much of my past."

Orion nodded in understanding. "Is there more of you on this earth?"

"I...can't remember. I know two landed on a large white stone." Guardian shook his helm with a huff.

"Our moon. It's above our atmosphere, giving our planet tides and such." Kasey explained from the floor.

"So that makes 3." Grandcloud clarified.

"I read in the data transcripts a long while ago there were seven of you. Am I wrong?" Orion asked.

"There were only five of us that lived. I'm unsure where the remaining two went. Originally, there was seven of us. Two were deactivated when a strange virus infected their systems." Guardian explained mildly.

"Virus?" Orion asked, in confusion.

"Something made them... not themselves. It wasn't a glitch in their systems. They were murderous and wanted to slaughter everything that moved." Guardian hopped off Orion's servo and hovered back to the ground, landing with a subtle huff.

"Where did this happen? Surely not back on Cybertron." Grandcloud asked.

"On Cybertron, in Kaon." Guardian looked up at Grandcloud, "We met a femme Decepticon... and the other two just lost their mind and bent to her will. They had to be terminated so whatever they had didn't spread to the population of Cybertron."

"Does that make sense to you, Grandcloud?" Straightedge asked.

Grandcloud answered simply with a glare.

Guardian gave Straightedge a glare before looking towards Orion, "Last I knew... my Cybertronian teacher was captured by the Decepticons. We must get him back."

"Wait, Scorpid is alive?" Shadowblitz looked up.

"I believe he is. The Decepticons would never rid themselves of an opportunity to have the titan under their digits." Guardian looked back at the femme.

"A...Titan?" Grandcloud asked, astonished.

"He was a good couple feet taller than you." Guardian nodded before crossing his arms, "He was large compared to most mechs."

"If the Decepticons have Scorpid-"

"Then we're screwed!" Straightedge interrupted Orion, "A new swear word I picked up from the human radio."

"Seems you do listen." Kasey smirked a bit.

"No no, Scorpid wouldn't do anything unless they had his sparkling." Guardian assured, before he noticed Shadowblitz glaring at the ground.

"Who was his sparkling?" Bumblebee beeped in confusion.

"No still understands you, Bee. I still don't see why you bother to talk. Can't we get this mech a new voice box or something?" Straightedge asked.

"It isn't that simple, we'd have to be on Cybertron for a replacement." Ratchet shook his helm.

"His sparkling was known as Gloryblast." Guardian replied to Bumblebee, before he noticed Shadowblitz's engine halt and she tensed up, sliding down the wall. The femme covered her optics with her servos, shaking her head.

"What's wrong with her?" Bumblebee crossed his arms.

Grandcloud put a servo on her shoulder-guard, "What's the matter, Shadowblitz?" He asked out of worry.

"I knew Gloryblast. That's Genesis's original designation." Shadowblitz's voice was muffled a bit behind her mouth guard before she uncovered her optics. "She was the one to make sure I got off of Cybertron, giving up herself in the process to Shockwave, of all Decepticons."

All the other survivors were shocked to hear a former ally in the war effort against the Decepticons was now the one hunting them down for the Decepticons.

"I can only guess what they did to her... But, if she didn't kill me when she had the chance, maybe I can get through to her." Shadowblitz looked back down at the floor, Kasey gently patting her pede in comfort.

"Well, I'm sure if she heard that Scorpid was alive, she may change." Guardian mused, shrugging.

"That's a bit of a big risk to take, isnt it?" Straightedge asked.

"Anything is a big risk." Shadowblitz pushed herself to a standing position with a wince, her mouth guard sliding back. "We don't know this world almost, and yet we may have a tool for winning against the Decepticons."

"Any advantage will do. Guardian, will you aid is our mission to retrieve the Allspark?" Orion asked the mini-con.

"I will gladly, the Allspark belongs with those who can bring back Cybertron." Guardian nodded at Orion.

Shadowblitz narrowed her optics with a small smile before relaxing into the wall of the warehouse. Maybe they'd finally have an advantage.

-  
Megatron was sitting on his throne. Looking out to the planet Earth before them before them. His troops lined up on opposite sides of the deck.

Shockwave made his way into the bridge, the violet-based mech seeming curious. Energon dripped from his digits, having recently done some... _talking_ with a large prisoner on board the ship.

"What have you brought to me, Shockwave?" Megatron asked in a low tone.

"He does not speak... He keeps silent... I have yet to use one final thing against him." Shockwave narrowed his optic, crossing his arms. "Genesis tells me she offlined one of the blasted survivors... the femme mentioned previously."

"Just one?"

"Apparently the femme was a fighter. One she knew, and a combiner from the battalion that Starscream slaughtered. The mechs were few and far inbetween."

Megatron groaned, "We are to presume the rest of those survivors aren't even soldiers?"

"I am unsure, though that is a plausible and logical assumption." Shockwave nodded before he heard Starscream storm up. The silver mech glared at the more violet-schemed one, before walking away.

Berserk walked by Starscream and next to Megatron, "My Lord, all boosters are fully operational. We are ready at your command."

Megatron gave a long smile, "Thank you, Berserk."

Berserk bowed before turning back around and leaving.

Shockwave gave a brief nod to Megatron, before returning to his work. He turned on his heels, going to continue speaking to the prisoner. Hopefully they could finally get answers.

"Awaiting your orders, Lord Megatron." Starscream spoke up, Soundwave turning to look at the other mech.

Megatron stood up from his throne and walked through the isle of soldiers on his left and right until he was at the front. He held up one of his claws towards the Earth and closed it. "Full speed ahead!"

"Yes sir, Lord Megatron!" The troops say in-tandem before quickly returning to their posts. It didn't take long for them to get the systems running as the boosters fired up and the Nemesis unlodged itself from the surface of the Moon. And in no time at all, the Nemesis was on its way to the Earth.


End file.
